Russia to launch small foreign satellites

MOSCOW, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia will launch into space a bunch of foreign small satellites on Dec. 27, Glavkosmos, the Russian launch service provider and a subsidiary of Roscosmos state space corporation, said Friday.

The satellites from the United States, Japan, Spain, South Africa and Germany will be orbited as secondary payload in the launch mission with Russian Kanopus-V-5 and Kanopus-V-6 satellites designed for real-time monitoring of natural and man-made disasters and other emergency situations, it said in a statement.

The launch will be carried out by Soyuz-2.1a LV/Fregat launch vehicle from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far Eastern Amur region, the statement said.