Russia launched a Soyuz rocket early on Tuesday carrying two satellites designed to monitor the space weather around Earth and 53 small satellites, including two Iranian ones, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said.

A Russian rocket on Tuesday blasted off successfully to carry a pair of Iranian satellites into orbit, a launch that reflected growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled from Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia and put its payload into a designated orbit nine minutes after the launch.

Russia launches a Soyuz rocket into space carrying dozens of satellites, including two from Iran:::: Vosctochny, Russia:: RoscosmosThe Soyuz-2.1 launch spacecraft, which lifted off from Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome,

Development of Kowsar, an imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a communications satellite, is first substantial effort by Iran's private space sector

Russia launched 55 satellites into orbit on Tuesday, including two privately built Iranian devices, in a demonstration of deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East at 2:18 a.