‘Meteor’ satellite launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome may be ‘in wrong orbit,’ contact lost

The satellite ‘Meteor,’ launched from the Vostochny spaceport on Tuesday, is absent from its designated orbit and has lost contact with Earth, TASS said, citing the Roscosmos corporation. “The first scheduled communication session has failed to establish contact with the satellite,” according to the corporation’s spokesman. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome at 05:41GMT with 19 space satellites on board. The hydrometeorological satellite ‘Meteor-M N. 2-1’ was the main payload. “The Soyuz 2.1b rocket put the booster ‘Fregat’ and space satellite ‘Meteor-M’ in the designated intermediate orbit,” Roscosmos said.