New Delhi: After India's record-breaking feat of launching 104 satellites in one go in February this year, seems like Russia isn't too far behind.
With an equally strong pace program in hand, Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos successfully delivered record-breaking 73 satellites into three different orbits on Friday via its Russian Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle.
The launcher, carrying an Earth observation Kanopus-V-IK satellite and 72 small satellites, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 09:36 Moscow time (0636 GMT), and a "Fregat" upper stage launched the spacecraft into three orbits before retreating and falling into the Indian Ocean at 18:18 Moscow time (1518 GMT), according to Roscosmos statements, Xinhua news agency reported.
"72 smallsats make the mission set a record in the number of spacecraft to be injected into several target orbits among smallsats launches ever," the corporation said.
The 73 satellites also include those from US, Germany, Norway, Canada and Japan.
According to Xinhua, based on the Soyuz-U series, Russia's Soyuz-2 launcher features advanced engines and up-to-date control and telemetry systems, which can be configured with the Fregat upper stage depending on the mission.
A standard Fregat upper stage was designed by Lavochkin Association to complement various launchers in order to put satellites in different orbits.
Watch the video of the lift-off below:
(Video courtesy: Телестудия Роскосмоса)
