Soyuz launches weather satellite, clearing way for crewed mission

摘要

Soyuz rocket successfully launched a European weather satellite Nov. 6, completing a constellation of polar-orbiting satellites and providing additional reassurance about the reliability of the Soyuz. The Soyuz ST-B rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on schedule at 7:47p.m. Eastern. The Metop-C satellite on the rocket deployed from the Fregat upper stage one hour after liftoff. The 4,084-kilogram satellite, built by Airbus Defence and Space for the European weather agency Eumetsat, is the third and final satellite in the Metop series of polar-orbiting satellites. The spacecraft joins Metop-A, launched in 2006, and Me-top-B, launched in 2012, both on Soyuz rockets from Kazakhstan. Metop-C will operate in the same 817-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, with a mid-morning crossing time, as Metop-A and -B. The three satellites will be spaced 120 degrees apart in the orbit until the retirement and deorbiting of Metop-A, scheduled for 2022.