Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
(Editor's note: It's been pretty busy in the world of spaceflight (especially on the Chinese side) so I only have time to finish this one up right now. 
)
Russia's northern spaceport at Plesetsk has been one of the most secretive spaceports for a very long time during the Cold War. Even a quarter of a century after it ended, there are still launches out there that can caught most people by surprise.
Well, perhaps not the latest one. The 27th flight of the Rockot launch vehicle lifted off from pad 133/3 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 22:00 UTC last Wednesday, with the payloads delivered into the planned orbits more than an hour after launch.
The 3 military payloads were placed into a 1500 km circular, 82.5 degree inclination orbit, which easily show the true identities of these 3 satellites . They are the latest batches of Rodnik/Strela-3M satellites, the latest in a long-running series of Soviet/Russian low orbit military communication satellites. These "store-and-dump" (i.e. non-real-time messaging) satellites have been transmitting e-mails, secret documents and messages for the likes of the KGB, army intelligence department and Soviet/Russian embassies overseas for more than 50 years. This latest series of satellites has been deployed since 2005 - the latest launch was in May 2014. A civilian version is also available (known as Gonets) for telecommunication uses, with the latest trio launched half a year ago.
Interestingly enough, it seems that there's no other "secret passenger" on board this time, as was the case in the last two similar launches. Hmm..... :hmm:
NASASpaceflight.com: Russia’s Rokot launches with three Rodnik satellites
)Russia's northern spaceport at Plesetsk has been one of the most secretive spaceports for a very long time during the Cold War. Even a quarter of a century after it ended, there are still launches out there that can caught most people by surprise.
Well, perhaps not the latest one. The 27th flight of the Rockot launch vehicle lifted off from pad 133/3 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 22:00 UTC last Wednesday, with the payloads delivered into the planned orbits more than an hour after launch.
The 3 military payloads were placed into a 1500 km circular, 82.5 degree inclination orbit, which easily show the true identities of these 3 satellites . They are the latest batches of Rodnik/Strela-3M satellites, the latest in a long-running series of Soviet/Russian low orbit military communication satellites. These "store-and-dump" (i.e. non-real-time messaging) satellites have been transmitting e-mails, secret documents and messages for the likes of the KGB, army intelligence department and Soviet/Russian embassies overseas for more than 50 years. This latest series of satellites has been deployed since 2005 - the latest launch was in May 2014. A civilian version is also available (known as Gonets) for telecommunication uses, with the latest trio launched half a year ago.
Interestingly enough, it seems that there's no other "secret passenger" on board this time, as was the case in the last two similar launches. Hmm..... :hmm:
NASASpaceflight.com: Russia’s Rokot launches with three Rodnik satellites
