Reliability. Accuracy. Efficiency

History

GK Launch Services was established by Glavkosmos and International Space Company Kosmotras in 2017. The core business of the company is to set up and coordinate spacecraft commercial launches using Russian launch vehicles and the infrastructure of Russian spaceports.

The company’s prime mission is to develop the commercial launch sector and promote Russian launch vehicles on the global market.

Today, GK Launch Services offers a full range of services related to satellite launching. The company collaborates with Roscosmos and launch system manufacturers from contract execution to a spacecraft launch, providing the customer with the required services and work at every phase of the project:

  • Mission analysis and adaptation to the launch system
  • Control over the manufacture of hardware
  • Organising mechanical and electrical interface tests, strength tests of adaptation hardware
  • Organising cargo transportation to the launch site
  • Visa and travel support for customer’s representatives
  • Preparation and customizing of launch site infrastructure 
  • Organising a satellite launch
  • Telemetry monitoring
  • Launch evaluation report

 

For commercial missions to orbit satellites, GK Launch Services offers Russian launch vehicles. The launches are carried out from the Baikonur and Vostochny spaceports.

Soyuz-2

Today, Soyuz-2 is a launch vehicle used for crewed missions to the ISS, the implementation of the Russian Federal Space Program and international commercial projects.

The Soyuz-2 launch vehicle is distinguished by the highest reliability, environmental friendliness, launch accuracy, and commercial attractiveness for multi-task space missions.

Our goals

1

Providing customers with reliable launch services on flexible and cost-effective terms.

2

Promotion of Russian launch vehicles in the global space services market.

3

Maintaining high standards of launch services with Russian launch vehicles in response to growing demand in a competitive and dynamic market.

4

Improvement of the ground infrastructure of Russian spaceports to comply with relevant requirements of commercial customers.

Timeline

22 March 2021

GK Launch Services accomplished the 1st fully commercial launch of Soyuz-2 LV from Baikonur. Primary payload – Korean CAS500-1 satellite, secondary payload – 37 satellites from 18 countries. 

5 July 2019

With the participation of Glavkosmos,  Soyuz-2 LV was launched from Vostochny. Primary payload - Meteor-M No. 2-2 satellite, secondary payload - 32 CubeSats and smallsats for customers from Germany, France, USA, Israel, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Thailand, Ecuador, Czech Republic and Estonia, countries of the Middle East.

27 December 2018

With the participation of Glavkosmos, Soyuz-2 LV was launched from Vostochny. Primary payload - Canopus-5 No. 5 and 6 satellites, secondary payload - 26 CubeSats for customers from Europe and the USA.

25 April 2017

GK Launch Services was established.

14 July 2017

Soyuz-2.1a LV was successfully launched from Baikonur with an Earth observation Canopus-V-IK satellite and 72 piggyback smallsats aboard. Such a complicated mission profile for a large number of payloads to be put into several orbits within one launch was designed and implemented for the first time in the world practice.

2017

Glavkosmos acted as the coordinator of 17 launches of the Soyuz-2 LV from the Guiana Space Center (South America).

2009-2017

Over 90 payloads were launched by Soyuz-2 LV from the Russian spaceports.

2014

KOSMOTRAS lofted 33 satellites within one launch; at that time, they set a record for a number of payloads injected within one LV flight.

1999-2015

A total of 22 commercial launches of the Dnepr LV were performed.

1999–2015

KOSMOTRAS orbited 128 payloads for the customers from 31 countries using the Dnepr LV.

19 October 2006

The first commercial Soyuz-2.1 launch with a European meteorological MetOp spacecraft was executed. The satellite mission was to carry out high-precision monitoring of the temperature and humidity of the Earth's surface, the speed and direction of air currents, as well as to monitor the ozone level over the ocean. MetОp was the first European meteorological spacecraft that worked in the circumpolar orbit.