Elektro-L 2 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Zenit rocket soars on perhaps its last launch

December 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Zenit rocket fired away from a Kazakh launch pad Friday with a Russian weather satellite, and the launch marked what could be the Ukrainian-made booster’s final flight.

Russian weather satellite lifts off aboard Zenit rocket

December 11, 2015 Stephen Clark

A weather satellite to help civilian and military forecasters track storm systems over Russia’s vast territory launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday aboard a Ukrainian-built Zenit rocket, perhaps on its final flight as Russian-Ukrainian relations sour and demand wanes for the 1980s-era launcher.

Zenit rocket raised on launch pad for possible final flight

December 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

In the run up to what may be the final flight of a Zenit launcher, a Russian-Ukrainian creation that ushered in a new era of Soviet-era rocketry, ground crews transferred the powerful booster to a launch pad Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.