Zenit – Spaceflight Now

Communications restored with newly-launched Angolan satellite

December 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

The Russian manufacturer of Angola’s first communications satellite announced Friday that it has reestablished contact with the spacecraft after engineers stopped receiving signals shortly after its launch earlier this week.

Controllers lose contact with new Angolan communications satellite

December 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Ukrainian-built Zenit booster and a Russian-made Fregat upper stage launched with an Angolan communications satellite Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but engineers lost contact with the spacecraft soon after its deployment in orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

Russia’s S7 Group to take over Sea Launch

October 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

The owners of a Russian airline hope to revive the Sea Launch program, a major player in the commercial launch business for a decade, after purchasing the company’s ships and ground infrastructure from Russian aerospace contractor RSC Energia.

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.