Russia on Thursday successfully placed into orbit a military satellite believed to be part of the Kremlin's early warning anti-missile system.

A Soyuz rocket carrying a classified payload blasted off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia in the early hours of Thursday morning, the defence ministry said.

At 0109 GMT a rocket was launched that put a "space apparatus into orbit in the interests of the defence ministry", the ministry said in a statement carried by the Interfax news agency.

It did not provide further details.

According to the Spaceflightnow website, which covers space launches, the launch could be delivering a Tundra satellite.

Russia has previously launched Tundra satellites in 2015, 2017 and 2019, according to Interfax.

Specialist website Russian Space Web said the ground track of Thursday's launch "matched previous missions" delivering satellites for Russia's missile warning system named Kupol or dome.

Unveiled in 2019, Kupol is designed to detect launches of ballistic missiles and track them to their landing site, though its exact configuration is unknown.

In 2018, the US, which suspects Russia of seeking to develop space weapons, said it was alarmed at the "very abnormal behaviour" of a Russian satellite.

A health coach from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has won two tickets worth almost $1 million to be among Virgin Galactic's first space tourists, the company said Wednesday.

Keisha Schahaff, 44, said she wanted to take the flight into Earth's orbit with her 17-year-old daughter, a science student living in Britain who dreams of one day working for NASA.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson surprised Schahaff with the news at her home in Antigua and Barbuda in early November.

"I just thought I was doing a zoom interview," she told AFP.

"When I saw Richard Branson walking in I just started screaming! I couldn't believe it.

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the new Prichal docking module for the International Space Station blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the Roscosmos space agency said.

A live feed from Roscosmos showed the carrier rocket taking off against a dark evening sky from the Russia-leased spaceport at the scheduled time of 1306 GMT.

Prichal—which means "pier" in Russian—is the second permanent addition to the Russian segment of the ISS this year, after the lond-awaited arrival of the Nauka lab module.

The module's journey to the ISS will take two days and is scheduled for automated docking at the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the Nauka module on Friday November 26, Roscosmos said.

According to Roscosmos, the five-tonne docking module can accomodate up to five spacecraft and will also deliver various cargo to the ISS, including food rations, repair tool and hygiene supplies.

The docking of Nauka in July had complications after its thrusters unexpectedly fired, causing the stations to briefly tilt out of orbit.

Last week, Russia faced an international backlash after Moscow destroyed a satellite creating a cloud of space debris that forced the ISS crew to take shelter.