Russia sends observation satellite into space

A Russian Zenith-3M rocket with an observation satellite blasted off early Monday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The rocket with Fregat-SB upper stage and Russian astrophysical observatory Spectrum-R lifted off at 6:31 a.m. Moscow time (0231 GMT) from Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, said the agency. And separation of the spacecraft from the upper stage which is to deliver Spectrum-R into the targeted orbit is expected to take place at about 10 a.m.(0600 GMT), it said. Spectrum-R was designed under the Radioastron international project by prime contractor Lavochkin R&D while scientific payloads were developed by the Astro Space Center of Lebedev.