Russia sends 34 British communication satellites to space

MOSCOW, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- A Russian carrier rocket delivered 34 communication satellites of British company OneWeb into orbit on Friday, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said.

The launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was carried out under a contract signed in 2015 by OneWeb, Roscosmos and France's Arianespace, the corporation said in a statement.

OneWeb intends to deploy a total of about 600 satellites in low Earth orbit and provide 24-hour global communication coverage by 2021. Under the contract, Russia will launch all the satellites using its Soyuz carrier rockets.

The first six OneWeb satellites were launched from French Guiana in February 2019.