MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) EgyptSat-A earth observation satellite has been delivered to its target orbit after launch aboard a Soyuz carrier rocket earlier on Thursday, Vladimir Ustimenko, a spokesman for Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos said.
Russia launched the EgyptSat-A earth observation satellite on board a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 07.47 p.m. Moscow time (16:47 GMT).
"The satellite has reached its designated orbit, everything works well, telemetry is being transmitted, the solar panels have opened," Ustimenko said in a statement.
Two sources in Russia's space industry earlier claimed that an emergency situation may have occurred during the launch as the ground control facilities detected a low perigee [lowest point of the orbit] of the Fregat booster prior to the separation of the satellite.
