CryoSat's 8 October flight atop its Rockot launcher will be of
historical significance in more ways than one. In a striking
juxtaposition of new and old, the ESA's ice satellite mated to a
newly-finished Breeze-KM upper stage will be hauled most of the
way to orbit by a vintage SS-19 two-stage rocket, first
assembled two decades ago to serve as a weapon of nuclear war.
ESA satellites have flown from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome
before (as well as the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan) but this will be the first time one will be launched
by Rockot – a design that consists of a Russian SS-19 two-stage
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) plus a Breeze-KM third
stage to place the payload in its final orbit. Codenamed
'Stiletto' by NATO, around 300 SS-19s were manufactured between
the mid 1970s and 80s to serve as a major part of the old Soviet
Union's nuclear arsenal. The liquid-fuelled ICBMs were deployed
in locations across Russia and the Ukraine until the START arms
control treaties made