Dnepr rocket launched from Russian missile silo

A Soviet-era ballistic missile shot out of an underground silo in southern Russia and rocketed into orbit Thursday with 32 satellites for students, corporations and government agencies from 18 countries on five continents.

The launch from a remote military facility in southern Russia came barely one day after a U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket blasted off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia with a record-setting 29 satellites for the Defense Department, NASA and university and high school students.

Most of the payloads on both missions were CubeSats, tiny spacecraft as small as the palm of a hand weighing less than 10 pounds.

The Dnepr rocket was ejected from a silo by a black powder cartridge at 0710:11 GMT (2:10:11 a.m. EST).

See our full story on the launch.

Credit: Skybox Imaging

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