31 launches will be conducted from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan while 5 will be launched from the Plesetsk space center in Arkhangelsk Oblast. In 2011 Russia launched a total of 32 rockets from the two space centers, Argumenty writes.
The last rocket to be launched from Plesetsk was a Soyuz-2 rocket carrying a Meridian satellite. It was lauched on December 23 but crashed in Siberia only minutes after liftoff. Fragments of the satellite have been found in the Novosibirsk region, RIA Novosti writes.
Plesetsk space center is now part of Russia’s newly created Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), that officially went on duty on December 1 2011.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed the creation of the VKO, an analog of the European missile defense system, to replace the Russian Space Forces, in 2010. The VKO brings together the air defense and missile defense systems, as well as the early missile warning and space control systems, under a unified command, RIA Novosti writes.
Meridian-series communication satellites are used for both civilian and military purposes. They are designed to provide communication between vessels, airplanes and coastal stations on the ground, as well as to expand a network of satellite communications in the northern regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. These satellites are designed to replace the older Molniya-series.
Watch video from Plesetsk space center
