And an optical mission to test laser relay capabilities from earth geosynchronous (GEO) orbit will soon follow.

FORBES: Future Of NASA's Aging Deep Space Network Lies In X-Rays And Lasers

It passed far closer even than the geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth, but there was no risk of impacts or collisions.

BBC: Asteroid 2012 DA14 in record-breaking Earth pass

By launching closer to the equator, the rocket receives a bigger boost from the Earth's rotation, meaning it can lift nearly double the mass of a normal Baikonur payload - a maximum of three tonnes, as opposed to 1.7 tonnes, into a geosynchronous orbit 36, 000km above the Earth.

BBC: A rocket abroad - Soyuz in French Guiana