Russia sends 53 satellites to orbit on record-breaking launch (video)

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Russia sends 53 satellites to orbit on record-breaking launch (video)


Russia launched 53 small satellites into orbit on Monday (Nov. 4), a mix of Russian and international spacecraft.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage lifted off from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East at 6:18 p.m. EST on Monday (2318 GMT; or 2:18 a.m. on Nov. 5 local time).

“The hosted payload consisting of 49 Russian satellites, a Russian-Chinese satellite, a Russian-Zimbabwean satellite and two Iranian small satellites was delivered into the designated orbits and separated from the Fregat booster that was launched by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny spaceport today,” the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement, the Russian state-owned TASS news agency reported.

A Russian Soyuz rocket launches 53 small satellites to orbit from the Vostochny spaceport on Nov. 4, 2024. (Image credit: Roscosmos)

Roscosmos said that the 51 domestic satellites aboard the launch was a national record, according to TASS. Other rockets have launched more payloads in a single go. The overall record belongs to SpaceX, which sent 143 satellites up on a single Falcon 9 rocket in January 2021.

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