Russia’s constellation of civilian satellites now has 99 spacecraft

Roscosmos

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/: The number of Russian satellites that are used for social, economic and scientific purposes, as well for research and navigation, was increased to 99 in 2020, Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Russian orbital constellation used for social, economic, scientific and navigational purposes now comprises 99 spacecraft," the statement says.

Overall, Roscosmos carried out 17 space launches from Baikonur (Kazakhstan), Plesetsk (northwestern Russia), Vostochny (Russia’s Far East) and Kourou (French Guiana) in 2020. About 120 satellites were taken to various orbits, including 104 OneWeb satellites, two navigational satellites - Glonass-M and Glonass-K, two Express and six Gonets telecoms satellites. Russia also sent two manned Soyuz-MS spacecraft and two Progress-MS space freighters to the Internaitonal Space Station this year.

Roscosmos completed its 2020 launch schedule on Tuesday by sending into space a Soyuz rocket carrying a French reconnaissance satellite from the Guiana Space Center.