Russia fails to place MeT satellite into orbit

Moscow : Russia has failed to place a meteorological satellite into the targeted orbit, state space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday.

"Communication with the spacecraft could not be established during the first planned session due to its absence in the targeted orbit," the agency said in the statement, without giving details.

Earlier in the day, Roscosmos announced that Russia had successfully launched a spacecraft carrying 19 satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the country's Far East, reports Xinhua news agency.

It said the Soyuz-2.1b rocket was scheduled to launch into orbit the Meteor-M hydro-meteorological satellite and another 18 small ones, including 17 for scientific, educational, research and commercial institutions of Norway, Sweden, the US, Japan, Canada and Germany.

Roscosmos did not specify the fate of the other satellites.

This was the second launch of a spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome, aimed at reducing Russia's dependence on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.