On January 15, 2013 at 16:24 UTC the Russian "Rockot” rocket-carrier was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The rocket equipped with the "Briz-KM” booster orbited the trio of Russian military satellites. The satellites were given the names of "Kosmos-2482”, "Kosmos-2483”, "Kosmos-2484”. The Rockot is a modified two-stage missile built to deliver nuclear payloads to distant targets. Engineers converted the wartime weapon, known to Western observers as the SS-19, to a peacetime space launcher by adding a third stage to inject satellites into orbit. In according to a number of non- classified sources, the rocket orbited three Russian "Rodnik-S” military communication satellites The mission was the first space launch of 2013.
