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MOSCOW, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Russia carried out 40 percent of
the world's rocket launches into orbit in 2004, RKA, the country's
space agency reported.
Of the 53 successful launches worldwide last year, Russia
carried out 21, sending 31 spacecraft -- commercial and military --
into orbit for itself and five other nations plus the European
Union. One launch -- a Tsyklon-3 rocket carrying two Ukrainian
remote-sensing satellites -- failed Dec. 24.
The United States accounted for 19 launches and 21
satellites. The European Union launched three rockets carrying nine
satellites. China had eight launches carrying nine satellites, and
India put one satellite into orbit.
The only other failure in 2004 was the launch of an Israeli
military satellite.
About three-fourths of the Russian launches took place at
the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the remainder from the
Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, said Anatoly Perminov, RKA's
head.
The Russian orbital group of satellites "at present
comprises 97 spacecraft, of which 81 are operating according to
their designation, nine are in reserve and seven are not being used
in accordance with special-purpose programs," the agency said in a
statement.
Russia plans seven space launches during the first three
months of 2005, placing eight spacecraft into orbit, the agency
said.