SAMARA. March 23 (Interfax) - The engines of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle coupled with the Fregat upper stage, which lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday morning, operated as planned, the UEC-Kuznetsov press service said.
The serial RD-107A/108A rocket engines manufactured by UEC-Kuznetsov, the Samara-based facility of the United Engine Corporation (UEC, part of the Rostec state corporation), ensured the successful second launch of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle, it said.
The Soyuz-2.1a coupled with a Fregat upper stage and carrying South Korea's CAS500-1 spacecraft as the primary payload and a cluster of hosted payloads was successfully launched from Baikonur's Site 31 at 9:07 a.m. Moscow Time on March 22.
The serial RD-107A/RD-108A engines installed on stages I and II of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle operated as planned, it said.
South Korea's CAS500-1 and 37 small satellites launched in the interests of 37 countries have been placed into three sun-synchronous orbits.
In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, the Soyuz-2.1a was painted white and blue, instead of the conventional gray and orange colors, as a tribute to the Vostok-1 launch vehicle.
Different versions of the RD-107A/RD-108A engines have been used to equip stages I and II of all launch vehicles of the R-7 family since 1958. The engines are manufactured serially by UEC-Kuznetsov, with design support from NPO Energomash (Glushko) research and production association. The engine's statistical reliability exceeds 99.9%.