Glavkosmos provided the launch of 15 foreign spacecraft as a rideshare payload
PLESETSK, September 29. – All the international spacecraft launched on Monday under the contracts of Glavkosmos (part of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) from the Plesetsk Ñosmodrome as a rideshare payload were successfully put into target orbits and contacted by the customers, said Dmitry Loskutov, Director General of Glavkosmos.
"The customers confirmed both the contact with the spacecraft launched under the Glavkosmos contracts and that the Russian side has completely fulfilled its contractual obligations," he said.
Dmitry Loskutov also thanked the staff of the Russian cooperative space enterprises for their well-coordinated and professional work and added that "the Russian side has once again confirmed its reliability as a partner for foreign customers."
On Monday, 15 spacecraft from six countries under the contracts of Glavkosmos with foreign customers were successfully launched from the Plesetsk Ñosmodrome as a rideshare payload during the launch of the Russian Gonets-M block No. 16 communication spacecraft. The primary and rideshare payloads were injected into target orbits by the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle and the Fregat upper stage.
The contracts of Glavkosmos provided for the spacecraft cluster launch into the sun-synchronous orbit. The cluster consisted of the two spacecraft from Finland, four US satellites, two satellites from Canada, one Lithuanian science satellite, one science satellite from the UAE, four technology satellites and one science satellite from Germany. Apart from the Gonets-M block No.16 spacecraft and the satellites under the Glavkosmos contract, four satellites of the Russian universities were also launched into target orbits.
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Glavkosmos, JSC is a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos. The main task of the company is to promote the achievements of the Russian rocket and space industry to world markets and manage complex international projects. During its thirty-five year history, the company has successfully fulfilled over 140 international contracts, including the launch of more than 150 spacecraft as a secondary payload.
ROSCOSMOS is a State Corporation established in August 2015 to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Russian rocket and space industry. ROSCOSMOS ensures the implementation of the state policy in space activities and its normative and legal regulations, as well as places orders for the design, production and supply of space equipment and space infrastructure. Its functions also include the development of international space cooperation, as well as the establishing of environment for application of space domain achievements for the social and economic development in Russia.