The Molniya were Soviet communication satellites operating from an inclined highly elliptical earth orbit of 500 km × 40000 km with 12 hour period for coverage of high northern latitudes.
The Molniya was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and had four stages. The 8K78 resulted from a crash program by the Korolev Bureau to develop a booster for launching planetary probes. A larger third stage was added along with a fourth stage (Blok L) that was designed to fire in-orbit to send the payload out of LEO. The basic R-7 core was also structurally strengthened and given more powerful engines. A rushed development produced multiple malfunctions of the upper stages, which led to its being replaced by the improved Molniya-M in 1964, but there were enough 8K78s left to continue flying them into 1967.
The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation are a separate-troops branch of the Russian Armed Forces that control Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
WIKIA batch of 53 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 49 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system. This launch carries…
A batch of 56 satellites for Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
The IGS-Radar 7 is a Japanese radar reconnaissance satellite. The satellite is operated by the Cabinet Satellite Information Center. The satellite se…
Rideshare mission with 3 HawkEye 360 satellites and other payloads.
A batch of satellites for Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
GPS-IIIA (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known …
USSF-67 is a mission for the United States Space Force with two satellites, including the LDPE-3A rapid prototype platform hosting 5 USSF payloads.
This launch carries multiple payloads, including 6 new satellites for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellite constellation and Qilu-2/3, …
Yaogan 37 is a Chinese military reconnaissance satellite. Shiyan 22A/B are 2 small Earth observation satellites built by SAST (SY-22A) & CAS (SY-22B).