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Thursday, March 27, 2008
A Kosmos-3M rocket was used to launch SAR-Lupe 4.
A RussianKosmos-3M rocket has launched the GermanSAR-Lupe 4reconnaissance satellite into low Earth orbit. Lift-off, from area 132/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, occurred at 17:15 GMT. The launch, which was originally scheduled to occur today, was moved up to Tuesday, and subsequently delayed twice due to strong winds at an altitude of 13 kilometres, which prevented launch.
SAR-Lupe is a German reconnaissance satellite constellation, consisting of five spacecraft. The first of these was launched in December 2006. The next satellite, SAR-Lupe 5, is scheduled for launch sometime around October 2008. The spacecraft are equipped with Synthetic Apperture Radar (SAR), which allows them to produce imagery at night, and through cloud cover.
The carrier rocket which was used, Kosmos-3M, is a derivative of the Soviet R-14 missile. It first flew in 1967, and the launch of SAR-Lupe 4 marks its 442nd flight. It is also the 900th launch of a member of the R-14 family of rockets.
The launch was declared successful, with the satellite reaching orbit at 17:43 GMT. It is the fourteenth orbital launch of 2008.
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
