AKIPRESS.COM - A navigation GLONASS-M satellite launched with the aid of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space base has been put in orbit and taken home by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, according to The Voice of Russia.

The launching of the Soyuz-2.1b and the head separation went smoothly. After the separation, the GLONASS-M space vehicle was taken home by the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Center of the Space Command of the Aerospace Defense Forces. A stable telemetry link has been installed and is being maintained with the spacecraft.

This is the third launch of a GLONASS spacecraft from the Plesetsk space base, the first vehicle having been launched on 26 February 2011. That was the first GLONASS-K new generation satellite which was for the first time placed in orbit by a Soyuz-2.1b medium capacity launcher.

Three GLONASS launches are scheduled for 2014.

The GLONASS system is intended for operational navigation-and-timing support to an unlimited number of land-, sea-, air-, and space-based users. Access to GLONASS civilian signals at any point of the globe is provided, by a decree of the RF President, for Russian and foreign users free of charge and without limitations.