Russia's Roscosmos space agency said in a brief statement that a Proton-M rocket carrying a Mexican satellite had suffered a problem on launch early Saturday.
"An emergency situation took place when the Proton-M rocket launched with a MexSat-1 satellite. The reasons are being identified," the agency said.
"The Mexican satellite is lost. Launches of rockets of the Proton type will be grounded until the reason is identified," a source in the space industry told RIA Novosti state news agency.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin "naturally was informed" of the satellite failure, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by the Interfax news agency, declining further comment.
- The failure came just hours after a separate glitch in which a Russian Progress spacecraft docked to the ISS failed to switch on its engines on command from mission control in a planned manoeuvre to shift the ISS into a higher orbit.
RIA Novosti state news agency criticised what it called "a negative record for Roscosmos—several accidents in space in three weeks."
On April 28, another Progress supply ship heading to the ISS lost communications and crashed to Earth in an apparent problem with its Soyuz rocket, prompting delays in the ferrying of astronauts to and from the orbiting station.
British singer Sarah Brightman announced Wednesday that she would not fly to the ISS as a space tourist in September as planned, citing personal reasons. Russian media speculated she pulled out over safety fears....[phys.org]
16/5/15
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Related:
Russian rocket carrying satellite burns up over Siberia...
ReplyDeleteA Russian rocket carrying a Mexican satellite has malfunctioned and burnt up over Siberia soon after launch on Saturday, Russia's space agency says.
The Proton-M carrier rocket broke down minutes after it was launched from Kazakhstan on Saturday morning, the Roscosmos agency said.
The cause of the accident is being investigated, Roscosmos added.
Russia's space programme has experienced a series of embarrassing mishaps in recent months.
Earlier reports said that the rocket had crashed in Siberia.
On Tuesday Russia was forced to delay the return of three astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) after an out-of-control unmanned cargo ship also burnt up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 28 April.
'Emergency situation'
Problems occurred about eight minutes into the Proton-M flight, which was broadcast live by Russia's space agency Roscosmos....bbc.com
16/5/15