Posted: Wed, Nov 3, 2010, 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT)
A Soyuz 2 rocket launched a Russian military communications satellite on Tuesday. The Soyuz 2-1a rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 8:59 pm EDT Monday (0059 GMT Tuesday) and placed a Meridian satellite into an elliptical, inclined Molniya orbit. The satellite is designed to provide communications services to ships and aircraft in polar regions not well served by geosynchronous communications satellites.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Interfax article
•  Itar-Tass article