On April 28, 2016 at 07:20 UTC the PSLV-C33 rocket-carrier was launched from Sriharikota spaceport, 80 km from Chennai, India. The rocket orbited IRNSS 1G satellite (the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System). It was the seventh and final spacecraft for a regional navigation network to provide position data to users across the subcontinent independent of foreign satellite systems.

A Soyuz rocket streaked into sunny skies over a new multibillion-dollar Siberian spaceport with Russian President Vladimir Putin watching from a nearby viewing stand, opening another gateway to space for satellites, and eventually cosmonaut crews. On April 28 at 02:01 UTC the “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier was launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome. The rocket equipped with the “Volga” upper stage orbited 3 satellites (“Lomonosov’; “Aist-2D”; “SamSat-218”).

Located in Russia’s Amur region near the Chinese border, Vostochny sits about 5,500 kilometers from Mosc ... Read more »