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Molniya-M/Oko - 2 December 2008 by William Graham on 02 Dec, 2008 06:52
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Launch was at 05:00 GMT (08:00 MSK), from Plesetsk.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13331590&PageNum=0
Now it is in orbit, the satellite should receive the designation Kosmos-2446.
I was under the impression that the Molniya-M was retired last year. Can we expect any more of these 'surprises'?
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#1 by William Graham on 02 Dec, 2008 09:57
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Some more information (in Russian)
http://www.rian.ru/science/20081202/156276825.html
Looks like the launch was from site 16/2, and occurred at 05:03 GMT, not 05:00 as previously reported. -
#2 by VB94 on 02 Dec, 2008 13:02
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Some pictures of this launch are posted here:
http://www.mil.ru/info/1069/details/index.shtml?id=55261
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#3 by Slava33 on 03 Dec, 2008 04:06
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Russian military deployed an Oko-class military surveillance satellite officially designated Kosmos 2446 today from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on top of (one of the last?) Molniya-M launcher into a Molniya orbit:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0812/02kosmos/
Plesetsk will have become the only Russian military launch site when the last Space Force personnel pull out on Jan 1:
http://nvo.ng.ru/forces/2008-09-26/5_Baikonur.html (in Russian)
http://en.rian.ru/video/20081201/118633024.html
There are also plans to move some civilian launches to the planned Vostochniy Cosmodrome (construction to start in 2010) in Siberia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostochny_Cosmodrome
So, will Baikonur become just another dilapidated remains of former Soviet glory? Not in the short term, it seems. In fact, it may reap some benefits of no Russian military oversight in the future.
(Russia deploys military surveillance "Kosmos 2446" thread moved into this thread - anik) -
#4 by pm1823 on 03 Dec, 2008 19:27
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Quote
I was under the impression that the Molniya-M was retired last year. Can we expect any more of these 'surprises'?
Yes, at least one. I think it will be same SC "Oko"-type in dec. 2009. -
#5 by Nicolas PILLET on 04 Dec, 2008 15:26
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Looks like the launch was from site 16/2, and occurred at 05:03 GMT, not 05:00 as previously reported.
According to this press release, the launch did occure at 05:00.
05:03 is the time by which the launcher came into visibility of Titov Space Center. -
#6 by Nicolas PILLET on 04 Dec, 2008 15:35
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Some news about Cosmos 2379 ? It wen to free drift in august 2007, but at the time we didn't know what it meant...