Simsat 1-2

Maiden orbital flight of Rokot in its Briz-KM configuration, a converted SS-19 ballistic missile marketed for commercial launches by the German-Russian Eurockot venture. It was also the first Rokot flown from Plesetsk and the first launched from a pad rather than a silo. The payloads were two mass simulators standing in for Iridium satellites, flown to qualify the new upper stage and the Iridium dispenser.