Successful Russian Soyuz Launch: Six Communication Satellites in Payload

After suffering a setback when a rocket crashed early last week, Russia recovered with the successful launching of a Soyuz rocket with six communications satellites into orbit on Wednesday.

The Soyuz 2 rocket launched six satellites for Louisiana-based communications provider Globalstar at 12:09 p.m. EST (1709 GMT) from the snow-covered central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the same site used by another Soyuz 2 booster that earlier met with disaster when it crashed in Siberia, destroying a Russian military communications satellite.

Wednesday's launch used a Soyuz 2-1a version of Russia's usually dependable Soyuz workhorse rocket. The booster design uses an older third stage rocket engine than the one used in the Soyuz 2-1b booster that crashed on Dec. 23.

ussia's ITAR-Tass news service reported that the country's space agency, Roscosmos, is investigating the recent rocket failure and is expected to present an initial report to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin soon.

Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovin said earlier that an engine failure was the most likely cause of the Dec. 23 rocket crash, though more investigation was needed to be sure.

The Soyuz 2 rocket launch, which was overseen by the European launch provider Arianespace via its Russian affiliate Starsem, carried six second-generation Globalstar satellites, each weighing 1,543 pounds (700 kilograms), into an initial 572-mile (920-km) orbit.

The mission is the third in a series of Globalstar satellite launches, with twelve satellites launched on two earlier missions. Another six satellites will be launched for Globalstar in 2012, Arianespace officials said.