A Glonass satellite during the assembly at NPO Polet in the city of Omsk.

A Russian Proton rocket blasted off today carrying a trio of military navigation satellites. Liftoff occurred at 1412:45 GMT (10:12:45 a.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Global Navigation Satellite System, or Glonass, spacecraft tell users their position on Earth whether they are on the ground, in the air or at sea. This is the Russian version of the U.S. military's Global Positioning System constellation.

Today's launch marked the 282nd for the Russian Proton rocket extending back to 1965 and the 12th of 2000. Three more launches -- two commercial and one government -- are firmly planned through the rest of the year.