Tsiklon-3 | Koronas-I

KORONAS-I (or CORONAS-I), a Russian-Ukranian spacecraft, was launched by a Tsiklon-3 booster from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. It carried UV and x-ray instruments to map the Sun and plasma monitors to study the ionosphere and magnetosphere.

The Tsyklon-3 was a Soviet, and subsequently Ukrainian orbital carrier rocket. A derivative of the R-36 ICBM, and a member of the Tsyklon family, it made its maiden flight on 24 June 1977, and was retired on 30 January 2009.

The Russian Space Forces are a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection for Russia. Having been reestablished following August 1, 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces after a 2011 dissolving of the branch. The Russian Space Forces were originally formed on August 10, 1992 and the creation of the Russian Armed Forces.