Soyuz rocket lifts off with Russian spy satellite

A Soyuz rocket launched Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia with a top secret Russian photo reconnaissance satellite to spy on strategic sites around the world. The launcher blasted off at 1600 GMT (12 p.m. EDT) from the Plesetsk space base. Liftoff occurred at 8 p.m. Moscow time, according to Russian news reports. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the three-stage Soyuz booster placed the secretive spacecraft in the correct orbit about eight minutes after launch. The payload will be named Kosmos 2472 in the Russian military's nomenclature for defense spacecraft. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Jun 28)