The Dnepr booster rocket blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, April 17, 2007. A Russian rocket on Tuesday launched a cluster of foreign satellites into orbit, including seven miniature satellites developed by U.S. university students. The Dnepr booster rocket carries one Egyptian and six Saudi satellites as well as seven CubeSat mini-satellites developed under a project by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University's Space Systems Development Lab.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Tuesday launched a Dneprcarrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, putting 14 foreign satellites into orbit, the Federal Space Agency said.

    The rocket blasted off at 10:46 a.m. Moscow time (0646 GMT). Foreign satellites aboard include those from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and some micro satellites.

    "The separation of all foreign spacecraft from the carrier rocket occurred at 11:02 Moscow time (0702 GMT) ... Control over all satellites has been passed to the customers," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted a space agency spokesman as saying.

    The launch is the first after the crash of a Dnepr rocket, the civil version of an inter-continental ballistic missile, on July 26, 2006. All 18 Russian and foreign satellites on board, including Belarus' first satellite BelKa, were destroyed in the crash.