Second commercial launch from Vostochny: 36 OneWeb satellites launched
The state corporation Roskosmos informs that today, March 25, 2021, at 05:47 Moscow time, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage successfully launched from the Russian Vostochny cosmodrome.v
This launch was the first in the current year from Vostochny and the second commercial launch in history. The payload was 36 devices of the OneWeb system, which is being formed to provide high-speed satellite Internet access worldwide.
It is noted that the start and separation of the upper stage from the third stage of the carrier took place in the normal mode. At present, a program for launching satellites into target orbits is being carried out: OneWeb vehicles in groups of four satellites are sequentially separated from the Russian upper stage.
Thus, seven launches have been carried out from Vostochny, located in the Far East in the Amur Region. Moreover, one launch campaign ended in an accident: due to the upper stage’s failure in 2017, the Meteor-M satellite No. 2-1 and 18 small spacecraft were lost.
We also add that six or seven launches are planned for the Vostochny cosmodrome this year. In particular, the launch of the rocket from the Luna-25 lunar landing station is planned.
