Technology / Science
Unmanned Russian rocket fails to reach target
07 Aug 2012 at 04:34hrs | Views
Russia's federal space agency says an unmanned rocket and its payload of two communications satellites failed to reach orbit, the latest in a series of failures that has dogged Moscow's space program.
Roscosmos said Tuesday that a secondary booster module of the Proton-M rocket carrying Russian and Indonesian satellites switched off earlier than expected minutes after late Monday's takeoff from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Last August, Russia lost contact with a communications satellite shortly after a Proton-M launch. In 2007, a Proton-M carrying a Japanese communications satellite crashed.
Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov told the Itar Tass news agency Tuesday that Roscosmos might halt Proton-M launches after an investigation.
The 50-meters (165-feet) long booster with a payload of up to 20 metric tons has been in use since 1965.
Roscosmos said Tuesday that a secondary booster module of the Proton-M rocket carrying Russian and Indonesian satellites switched off earlier than expected minutes after late Monday's takeoff from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov told the Itar Tass news agency Tuesday that Roscosmos might halt Proton-M launches after an investigation.
The 50-meters (165-feet) long booster with a payload of up to 20 metric tons has been in use since 1965.
Source - AP
