Russia on Saturday successfully launched a navigation satellite Glonass-K and sent it into a planned orbit. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said, the Glonass-K, the first new-generation satellite of Russia's Glonass navigation system, was launched by a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket from the Plesetsk launch site on Saturday monring. The launch of the satellite was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the Russian Defense Ministry postponed the launch twice due to technical reasons. Glonass is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, designed for both military and civilian uses. The system requires 24 operational and two to three reserve satellites in orbit to ensure global coverage.