May 3 2006
From The Space Library
A Soyuz-U rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 17:38 (UT), carrying Kosmos 2420, a Russian military satellite. The Russian federal space agency Roskosmos stated that “the launch took place in the interests of the Defense Ministry.” Observers in the United States speculated that Kosmos 2420 might be a spy satellite intended to bolster Russia’s declining military-intelligence presence in space.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 631, 1 June 2006, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx631.html (accessed 17 March 2010); Stephen Clark, “Russian Soyuz Rocket Launches New Spy Satellite,” Spaceflight Now, 3 May 2006; RIA Novosti, “Russia Launches Kosmos Military Satellite from Plesetsk Base,” 3 May 2006.
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