Russian Glonass navigation satellite enters orbit

Russian navigation satellite Glonass-M entered orbit more than three hours after blastoff on Sunday, the federal space agency Roscosmos said.

The satellite entered the designed orbit at 3:16 p.m. Moscow time (1216 GMT), while contact was made in the normal function mode with ground control, Roscosmos said in a statement.

Glonass-M was sent into space by a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket, as the liftoff took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia's northern Arkhangelsk region at 11:44 a.m. Moscow time (0844 GMT).

The launch was carried out under the control of an operational crew of the Russian Aerospace Force, and the satellite separated from the third stage of the rocket nine minutes after takeoff, according to Roscosmos.

Glonass is a global navigation system operated by the Russian Aerospace Force for both military and civilian use.

It is a Russian equivalent to the U.S. Global Positioning System and China's Beidou system, providing real-time positioning and speed data for land, sea and airborne receivers worldwide.