Foton Launch Program Begins in Baikonur
Posted on: Tuesday, 1 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
BAIKONUR. June 1 (Interfax) - A program to launch Foton satellite laboratories into space is scheduled to commence in Baikonur on Tuesday.
"On June 1, a session will take place on the 112 pad of the launching pad where issues of beginning the work according to the program will be discussed," a source in the Baikonur Federal Space Center told Interfax.
Preparations for the first Foton launch from Baikonur will be finished by the summer of 2005, the source said.
The Foton satellites used to be launched from the Plesetsk launching pad.
The transfer of the Foton program to Baikonur was done to free up working space at the testing facility in Plesetsk for work on the Angara program.
The launches of these satellites were performed from 1985 to 1999. The scientific apparatus that is launched on these satellites undergoes secondary testing after its return from space, and is then launched into space once again, which lowers the price of equipping the satellites.
The Foton satellites are designed to conduct scientific and technological experiments in low-gravity conditions. The weight of a Foton satellite is approximately 6.5 tonnes. There have been 12 launches of Foton satellites in all.
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