This is the seventh launch of OneWeb satellites and the fourth fully commercial launch from Vostochny
MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. All British OneWeb communications satellites launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome on a Soyuz-2.1 b carrier rocket have successfully separated from the Fregat upper stage. This is stated in the message of Roscosmos, distributed on Saturday.
"All satellites have been put into target orbits in normal mode and taken under the control of the customer of this launch," the state corporation said.
Roscosmos added that after the completion of the separation and separation of the spacecraft, the Fregat upper stage will be brought down from near-Earth orbit. Non-combustible elements will be flooded in the non-navigable part of the Pacific Ocean.
The Soyuz-2.1 b launch vehicle launched at 20:38 Moscow time on May 28 from the Vostochny cosmodrome. After about nine minutes, the Frigate and its satellites separated from the third stage of the rocket. The launch of the vehicles by the upper stage took 3 hours and 51 minutes. The satellites were separated in several stages.
This is the seventh launch of OneWeb satellites and the fourth fully commercial launch from Vostochny. After that, the number of the British company's spacecraft in orbit increased to 218. This launch from Vostochny broke the record for the number of launches from the Far Eastern cosmodrome per year. Previously, the largest number of launches (two) per year was made in 2018.
Initially, the launch was supposed to take place at 20:43 Moscow time on May 27, but was postponed to a backup date. As reported by TASS in Roscosmos, the launch vehicle remained in pre-launch condition. In turn, a source at the cosmodrome explained to TASS that the launch was postponed to May 28 due to the comments identified by the automation. Later, Arianespace, which is the launch operator, announced the need to replace the electrical equipment on the rocket before launch.