The Soyuz 2.1v is a lightweight carrier rocket designed to bring between 2,800-2,850 kg payloads into 200 km low Earth orbits.

This version of the Soyuz 2.1 rocket has no side-mounted boosters and instead uses a heavily modified center stage with expanded fuel tanks, a beefed-up structure, and a completely different first stage engine than the Soyuz 2.1b, from which it is derived.

It uses the same second stage as the Soyuz 2.1b.

Built by TsSKB Progress, the rocket stands 44 m tall and 3 m wide.

It weighs 158,000 kg at liftoff.

Image: SpaceX

The Plesetsk Cosmodrome is located 800 km north of Moscow, Russian Federation.

The site was founded in 1957 to support Union of Soviet Socialist Republic ICBM launches of the R7 missile - from which the Soyuz rockets today are derived.

Plesetsk was not as busy as Baikonur in terms of satellite launches from its founding in 1957 to 2000 due to its location and ability to only launch crafts to Molniya and polar orbits. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the Baikonur Cosmodrome becoming foreign territory for Russia, Plesetsk has been far more active since the 2000s.

It is primarily used for military and commercial launches to high inclination and polar orbits.

It has been the site of three fatal ground accidents that have killed 58 people. In 1973, a Cosmos-3M rocket exploded on the launch pad killing 9; in 1980, a Vostok-2M rocket exploded during fueling, killing 48; in 2002, a Soyuz-U rocket exploded killing 1 person.

Image: Roscosmos