Russia's Soyuz Spacecraft Launches 34 New OneWeb Satellites Into Orbit

Initially, the launch was scheduled for August 5, but due to satellite production problems, it was reportedly postponed, as some devices had to be replaced because of low-quality components at the company's factory in Florida.

Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch a Soyuz 2.1b spaceship with a new batch of 34 UK OneWeb satellites from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday night.

Earlier in the day, the State Commission approved the upcoming launch and allowed the rocket to be refueled. The spaceship liftoff is scheduled to take place at 22:23 UTC.

According to Roscosmos, the flight of the Soyuz rocket will last nine and a half minutes. After that, the Fregat upper stage in conjunction with the OneWeb spacecraft will separate from the third stage of the rocket and begin an autonomous flight. The deployment of satellites in orbit is expected to take slightly less than four hours.

At the moment, there are 254 satellites in orbit. Accordingly, after this launch, the UK company's constellation will grow to 288 satellites in total.

Source: RIA Novosti

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