On 25 November 2019, at 20:52 MSK (17:52 UTC) the Air and Space Forces successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1v launcher from the pad No. 4 of the site No. 43 of the Plesetsk launch site. The Volga booster successfully delivered into orbit a satellite that received the designation Cosmos-2542. According to the ministry of defense statement, the satellite could monitor the status of other Russian satellites and provide imagery of the Earth's surface.

The satellite received the international designation 2019-079A and was registered by NORAD as object 44797.

UPDATE: On December 6, 2019, Cosmos-2542 satellite (44797) released what appears to be an inspector satellite, object No. 44835 (2019-079D). The inspector satellite is most likely Cosmos-2543. (See also TASS story.) On 15 July 2020, Cosmos-2543 released another object, 2019-079E/45915, which the US Space Command said was a test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon.