Russia successfully launches first Soyuz Rocket

Russia has successfully launched a Soyuz rocket for the first time since the failure of a similar rocket aborted a manned take-off to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 11. 

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that today at 03:15 local time a Soyuz-2.1B rocket was successfully launched carrying a satellite for the Russian military. 

According to the ministry, the satellite reached its orbit at the set time. Russia's



space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter that this was the first launch of a rocket from the Soyuz family since the October 11 accident.  

The military said it was the third launch of a Soyuz rocket from Russia's northern Plesetsk launch pad this year. Russia's Roscosmos space agency has set up a commission to investigate the failed launch to the ISS and is set to announce its findings on October 30.