On Monday, March 16, at 21: 28 (Moscow time), a successful launch of a medium-class "Soyuz-2.1B" rocket carrier with a "Glonass-M" navigation spacecraft was carried out from the launcher No. 4 of the launch pad No. 43 of the State test cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region by the combat crew of the Aerospace Forces.
All pre-launch operations and the launch of the "Soyuz-2.1B" space rocket (SPR) took place in normal mode. The Russian orbital group's ground-based automated control system controlled the launch and flight of the space purpose rocket (SPR).
This is the second launch of the "Soyuz-2" rocket carrier, conducted in 2020 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The previous launch of "Soyuz-2" from the Northern cosmodrome was successfully carried out on February 20, 2020.
Flight tests of the "Soyuz 2" rocket complex began at the Plesetsk cosmodrome on November 8, 2004. Over the past fifteen years, 44 "Soyuz-2" rocket carriers were launched from the Northern cosmodrome of types 1-a, 1-b, and 1-v.
The "Soyuz-2" rocket carrier replaced the "Soyuz-U" rockets, which were operated at the Plesetsk cosmodrome from 1973 to 2012. During this period, 435 "Soyuz-U" launches were carried out from Plesetsk, during which about 430 spacecraft for various purposes were put into orbit.
Source - MoD