Moscow, March 2 (Agency) The Russian state-owned corporation Roscosmos said that the Russian Soyuz-2.1b rocket loaded with 36 UK’s OneWeb satellites will be installed on the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 2. “A meeting of the State Commission was held at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to review the readiness to roll out the Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the assembly and test building. The commission cleared the rollout process and installation of the rocket on the launchpad in the morning of March 2, 2022,” the statement said on Tuesday. The rollout process is scheduled to begin at 4:30 GMT.
The Soyuz-2.1b rocket is scheduled to launch on March 4 at 22:41 GMT. OneWeb devices are designed to create a space communication system that provides high-speed Internet access anywhere on Earth. OneWeb is set to deploy full first generation constellation by June 2022. To date, Russian rockets have already put 428 OneWeb satellites into orbit. OneWeb has not yet decided whether the launch of satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome would be postponed amid the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian side said that it was ready to continue fulfilling its contractual obligations and was making preparations for the launch.