European Space Agency satellite rides to orbit from Russia

MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian rocket has carried into orbit a satellite that is part of the European Space Agency’s earth observation program.

The Sentinel-3B satellite blasted off Wednesday from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia, said the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

The satellite, part of the ESA’s Copernicus program, is to measure oceans, land, ice and the Earth’s atmosphere.