On December 28, 2011 at 17:09 UTC the Russian "Soyuz – 2.1a” rocket-carrier was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The rocket equipped with the "Fregat” booster orbited 6 American "Globalstar-2” telecommunication satellites.
Globalstar's subscribers use the satellites to place telephone calls and send data messages around the world. Built by Thales Alenia Space, the second-generation satellites feature longer design lives.
