In this Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017 file photo, a Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Meteor M satellite and additional 18 small satellites lifts off from the launch pad at the new Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. The Kremlin says authorities are looking into recent failures in Russia's space industry. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)
Russian specialists on Friday said they have restored communication with Angosat-1, the first national satellite it launched for Angola, days after they lost contact with it.
"Specialists of Energia rocket and space corporation have received telemetry information from Angosat," Energia said in a statement. "All parameters of the spacecraft systems are normal."
Energia is the maker of the satellite which Russia launched from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening.
It stopped receiving telemetry shortly afterwards.
The incident was a new embarrassment for the country's once proud space industry after Russia in November lost contact with a weather satellite after it was launched from a new cosmodrome in the country's far east.
The Angosat project was agreed by Russia and Angola in 2009 and includes the satellite, its launch, and on-ground infrastructure in a suburb of the capital Luanda.
The approximately $280-million project has been financed with a credit from Russia's state banks.
The satellite is designed for a 15-year mission to boost satellite communications, Internet access, radio and TV service.
© 2017 AFP
