In 2021, four launches of Soyuz-2 missiles with military satellites and one launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile were carried out at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Russian Defense Ministry told RBC.
“The combat crews of the Plesetsk State Testing Space Center carried out 4 launches of Soyuz-2 class space rockets with military spacecraft and 1 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile,” it was reported.
According to the ministry, a total of 15 space launches were made from the Plesetsk, Vostochny and Baikonur cosmodromes, with 258 domestic and foreign spacecraft launched into orbit. At the same time, the duty forces of the ground control complex conducted over 520 thousand sessions of control of the spacecraft of the Russian orbital group.
It also clarified that more than 110 launches of foreign and domestic ballistic missiles and space missiles were detected by means of the Russian missile attack warning system during the year.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defense reported on three launches of Soyuz-2 missiles with military satellites from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2021 – on February 2, June 25 and September 9.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about the tests of the new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile “Sarmat” in August. “Flight tests [will begin] this year, should be completed in 2022, and in 2022, our first regiment should enter service with the Strategic Missile Forces,” he said. For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the development of “Sarmat” during his address to the Federal Assembly in 2018.
At the end of April, it was reported that 58 accident-free launches of space rockets in a row had been carried out in Russia since October 2018, thereby repeating the country's 30-year record. At that time, Russia made 27 successful launches from Baikonur, 19 from Plesetsk, seven from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana and five from the Vostochny cosmodrome, the report said.
