A RUSSIAN MOLNIYA booster was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazhakstan on 28 December 1995, carrying India's remote-sensing satellite, the IRS-1C, into Sun-synchronous orbit.
The 1,250kg, Indian-built satellite will provide images directly to US company Eosat as part of a data-distribution contract. The IRS-1C's panchromatic camera will return images with a resolution of 6m, the highest for a civilian remote-sensing satellite.
The IRS also carried a piggyback US/Russian satellite, the Skipper, which was built by the Utah State University in conjunction with the Moscow Aviation Institute.
Source: Flight International