Watch Russia launch new satellites in this awesome video

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Video's views of launch shows flames spewing from multiple angles during ride to orbit

Russian rocketry shows off its power in a video of a Soyuz-2 booster launching four satellites into space this week.

A trio of Gonets-M satellites and a military nanosat called Kosmos-2548 (or ERA-1) successfully launched on Wednesday (Dec. 2) at 10:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT or 3:14 a.m. Moscow time Thursday, Dec. 3) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, which is about 500 miles (800 km) north of Moscow.

The official video from the Russian Defense Ministry on Youtube shows incredible views of the rocket flying into space, with orange flames spewing into the black night sky.

The Soyuz rocket: Russia's venerable workhorse booster explained

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A Russian Soyuz-2 rocket carrying a Gonets-M communications satellite launches into orbit on Dec. 3, 2020 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
(Image credit: Russian Federation Ministry of Defense)

"All pre-launch operations and the launch of the Soyuz-2 rocket went nominally," Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement. The Fregat upper stage of the rocket successfully sent the satellites into their proper orbits about two hours after launch, Roscosmos added.

Roscosmos described Kosmos-2548 as a "nanoscale service platform" for the Russian Defense Ministry, meant to test "advanced micro-devices and orientation and astrogation microsystems." The Gonets-M satellites will be used for low-Earth orbit commercial communications.

This is is the 17th launch of Gonets-M satellites for a larger constellation, but only the second satellite set launched on a Soyuz rocket, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com. Previously, Gonets-M satellites were launched on the now-retired Rockot booster.

The communications satellites normally operate in a near-polar orbit of 82.5 degrees, at roughly 870 miles (1,400 km) in altitude. That's roughly three times as high as the International Space Station's equatorial orbit of 250 miles (400 km).

The Gonets-M system includes four new regional stations in 2020 to improve operations, RussianSpaceWeb.com added. More satellites could be added to the constellation with the additional network capacity available on the ground, allowing for this latest launch.

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Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace