An international flotilla of five small satellites orbits Earth today after a successful launch from Kazakhstan of a converted Russian ballistic missile.
The Dnepr 1 booster, carrying pairs of Italian and Saudi satellites and a single Malaysian spacecraft, blasted off from silo launch facility Number 109 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:05 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:05 GMT) Monday.
In the so-called "cold-launch" sequence, a powerful blast of powder charge was fired under the rocket's tail, pushing the giant vehicle from the silo up several yards (meters) into the air. The rocket's first-stage engines then ignited in midair at 6:05:09 a.m. EDT (10:06:09 GMT).
One minute and 38 seconds into the flight its first-stage engines shut down. After six seconds the rocket's second stage began a burn that lasted about three minutes.
The rocket's third stage -- originally designed to guide nuclear warheads to targets as far away as the United States -- ignited some five minutes after liftoff.
The stage continued firing its maneuvering engines as the satellites were ejected from the launch container attached to the drum-shaped stage.
Within 14 minutes of the launch all five satellites had successfully separated from the rocket, according to officials monitoring the launch in Moscow.The third stage was then shut down at 6:20:36 a.m. EDT (10:20:36 GMT).
Two satellites delivered on this launch -- SaudiSat 1A and 1B -- belong to Saudi Arabia's Space Research Institute. The other three are: MegSat 1, built by MegSat s.p.a., an Italian commercial aerospace company; UniSat, built by the University of Rome and TiungSat 1, which belongs to ATSB of Malaysia.
Launch was delayed several times since late August by technical problems that were serious enough to prompt the booser's manufacturer to replace the vehicle in its silo.
The Dnepr 1 booster is converted from an R-36NU intercontinental ballistic missile, the most powerful weapon in the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. Hundreds of missiles of this type became a subject of the arms-reduction treaties between the United States and Russia.
Russian and Ukrainian manufacturers of the R-36NU missiles created a company called Kosmotras with the sole purpose of converting the vehicle into a space booster and marketing it worldwide. Thiokol Propulsion handles the marketing in the U.S.
The Dnepr 1 completed its first space mission on April 21, 1999, successfully delivering a small British satellite.
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