The Aerospace Defence Forces of Russia successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Plesetsk launch site in Northern Russia on 23 June 2015 at 1644 GMT. Aboard was a Persona-class reconnaissance satellite, later dubbed Cosmos 2506, which was being carried for the Russian Defence Ministry. The electro optical imaging satellite is believed to have a resolution of 0.5m with an exceptionally large swath of 1,300km. The launch was the third Persona-class satellite in the series.