VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with two Kanopus-V remote sensing satellites and 26 small foreign spacecraft has been launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Far Eastern Amur region on Thursday, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said in a statement.

The rocket was launched at 05:07 a.m. Moscow time (0207 GMT) as planned, said the statement.

The Fregat upper stage will now bring two Kanopus-V remote sensing satellites and 26 spacecraft from Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain and the United States to the orbit.

Kanopus-V number five is expected to separate at 06:06 a.m. (0306 GMT), while Kanopus-V number six is planned to separate at 06:12 a.m. (0312 GMT). After this, foreign satellites will also be separated.

At 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT), the upper stage will begin de-orbiting and will enter the atmosphere of Earth at 10:25 a.m. (0725 GMT)

This is the fourth launch from the Vostochny spaceport.