Russian Glonass Satellites Put into Orbit

Excerpt from report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 26 December: Three satellites of the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass) have been put into orbit as planned. This was done with the help of a Proton-K carrier vehicle, which was launched from the Baykonur cosmodrome earlier today. At 2040 Moscow time [1740 gmt] the satellites one by one detached themselves from the booster unit and reached calculated earth orbits at an altitude of 36,000 km. ITAR-TASS learnt this at the press service of the Russian Space Troops.

The launch of the carrier vehicle and placement of the satellites into orbit went according to plan. After the two Glonass satellites and the new-generation satellite Glonass-M were put into the scheduled orbit by the DM booster unit they were passed to the control of the command and measuring complex of the Space Troops. Stable telecommunications have been established with the satellites. [Passage omitted]