Russia launches European weather satellite

A Russian carrier rocket sent a European weather satellite into space on Thursday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the MetOp-A satellite blasted off from the Russian-leased space port in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan at 1628 GMT after multiple delays due to technical glitches and bad weather since July, Russian news agencies reported citing the Federal Space Agency.

The satellite reached its designated orbit about an hour after launch.

MetOp-A, Europe's first polar-orbiting satellite, was the first of three satellites jointly developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Meteorological Satellite Organization.

With an array of sophisticated instrumentation, MetOp-A is expected to improve weather forecasts and monitor Earth's climate by providing meteorological data of unprecedented accuracy and resolution, according to the ESA.

Source: Xinhua