Russia loses contact with new weather satellite

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption The Soyuz-2 spacecraft with Meteor-M satellite was launched from Vostochny

Russia has lost contact with a weather satellite just hours after its launch from a new cosmodrome.

"Contact has not been established because it is not on its planned orbit," the space agency Roscosmos said. The Meteor-M satellite was carried on a Soyuz rocket.

The launch was at 14:41 (05:41 GMT), from Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's far east. It is only the second launch from the base, which opened last year.

Smaller satellites were also on board.