The Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying a Fregat-M booster and the meteorology and emergency communications satellite, Arktika-M No 1, blasts off from the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Arktika-M No 1 is the first of ten Arktika satellites to be launched by Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, into orbit. The Arktika-M satellites will obtain color images of clouds and Earth's surface in the Arctic. Photo: VCG