Persona (Kosmos 2506)
Soyuz
Russian Aerospace Defence Forces
Rocket Launch Video
Mission
Persona
- Type: Government/Top Secret
- Orbit: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
- Launch Cost: $80,000,000
A military reconnaissance satellite will be launched on Tuesday by a Soyuz-2.1b although Russian Defence Ministry has not yet officially confirmed the information. Source: http://tass.ru/en/non-political/802905
Location
43/4 (43R)
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation
43/4 (43R) has witnessed the launch of 323 rockets, including 323 orbital launch attempts. While Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation, has been the site for 1672 rocket launches.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits, so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became a foreign territory, and Kazakhstan charged $115 million usage fees annually. Consequently, Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.
Rocket
Progress Rocket Space Center Soyuz 2.1b
Soyuz-2 is the 21st-century version of the Russian Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage carrier rocket for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. The 2.1b version adds an upgraded engine (RD-0124) with improved performance to the second stage.