Russia launches 34 OneWeb satellites into orbit

MOSCOW, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A Russian carrier rocket has successfully delivered 34 communications satellites of British company OneWeb into orbit, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said Sunday.

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

It was the third launch of OneWeb satellites, raising the number of the company's spacecraft in low Earth orbit to 74.

The first six OneWeb satellites were launched from French Guiana in February 2019, and another batch of 34 satellites was launched last month from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

OneWeb intends to deploy a total of more than 600 satellites in low Earth orbit, which are designed to provide consumers on the ground with 24-hour high-speed Internet directly through satellite communications.