THE FORMER missile-launch base of Sovbondy, in the Amur region of the Russian Far East, will become operational for satellite launches later this year, when a Start booster is to lift a small research satellite into orbit.
Sovbondy will become Russia's third satellite-launch base after Kapustin Yar and Plesetsk, although most of the country's launches have been made from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
The new base will be able to launch Rokot satellite launchers from five missile silos, with the first Rokot launch scheduled for 1997.
Source: Flight International