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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Sep06/0,4670,RussiaRocketCrash,00.html
Russian Rocket Crashes to Earth
Thursday, September 06, 2007
MOSCOW - An unmanned Russian rocket carrying a Japanese communications
satellite malfunctioned after liftoff Thursday and crashed in Kazakhstan,
officials said. Nobody was hurt, but the crash triggered concerns in
Kazakhstan about environmental damage from toxic rocket fuel.
The Proton-M rocket failed to put the JCSAT-11 satellite into orbit because
of a problem during operation of the second stage, the U.S.-based
American-Russian joint venture International Launch Services said.
The rocket failed 139 seconds after its launch from the Russian-rented
Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan, and veered from the planned trajectory at
an altitude of 46 miles, said Alexander Vorobyov, a spokesman for the
Russian space agency Roskosmos.
Parts of the rocket fell to the ground in an uninhabited area about 30 miles
southwest of the central Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Vorobyov said.
The rocket was carrying more than 220 tons of fuel, including highly toxic
heptyl, Kazakh space agency chief Talgat Musabayev said, expressing concern
about possible contamination around the crash site, Kazakhstan's Kazinform
news agency reported.
Kazakhstan would be fully compensated for environmental damage under
existing agreements, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said, according to Russian
news agencies.
Under an agreement with Kazakhstan, launches of Proton rockets from Baikonur
were automatically suspended until the cause of the crash is determined,
Vorobyov said.
He said that was unlikely to affect future launches, but an official at
state-controlled Khrunichev State Research and Production Center, which
makes Proton rockets, said that would depend on when an official
investigative commission delivers its report.
Following an accident in July 2006 involving a different kind of rocket
launched from Baikonur last year, the report came in about six weeks, and
Proton launches are scheduled for November and December, Khrunichev
spokesman Alexander Bobrenyov said.
Russian and Kazakh media quoted Musabayev as saying the accident was likely
caused by the failure of steering mechanisms aboard the rocket, but
Bobrenyov said it was too early to make that determination.
Russia has been aggressively trying to expand its presence in the
international market for commercial and government satellite and
space-industry launches, though its efforts have seen several high-profile
failures.
The July 2006 incident involved a Dnepr rocket carrying 18 satellites for
various clients that crashed shortly after takeoff from the Baikonur,
spreading highly toxic fuel over a wide swath of uninhabited territory in
Kazakhstan.
The JCSAT-11 satellite, made by U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Commercial Space
Systems, was to be used by Japan's JSAT Corp., International Launch Services
said in a news release. The heavy-lift Proton, a top income-generator for
Russia's space industry, is made by Khrunichev, a partner in International
Launch Services.
Russian Rocket Crashes to Earth
Thursday, September 06, 2007
MOSCOW - An unmanned Russian rocket carrying a Japanese communications
satellite malfunctioned after liftoff Thursday and crashed in Kazakhstan,
officials said. Nobody was hurt, but the crash triggered concerns in
Kazakhstan about environmental damage from toxic rocket fuel.
The Proton-M rocket failed to put the JCSAT-11 satellite into orbit because
of a problem during operation of the second stage, the U.S.-based
American-Russian joint venture International Launch Services said.
The rocket failed 139 seconds after its launch from the Russian-rented
Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan, and veered from the planned trajectory at
an altitude of 46 miles, said Alexander Vorobyov, a spokesman for the
Russian space agency Roskosmos.
Parts of the rocket fell to the ground in an uninhabited area about 30 miles
southwest of the central Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Vorobyov said.
The rocket was carrying more than 220 tons of fuel, including highly toxic
heptyl, Kazakh space agency chief Talgat Musabayev said, expressing concern
about possible contamination around the crash site, Kazakhstan's Kazinform
news agency reported.
Kazakhstan would be fully compensated for environmental damage under
existing agreements, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said, according to Russian
news agencies.
Under an agreement with Kazakhstan, launches of Proton rockets from Baikonur
were automatically suspended until the cause of the crash is determined,
Vorobyov said.
He said that was unlikely to affect future launches, but an official at
state-controlled Khrunichev State Research and Production Center, which
makes Proton rockets, said that would depend on when an official
investigative commission delivers its report.
Following an accident in July 2006 involving a different kind of rocket
launched from Baikonur last year, the report came in about six weeks, and
Proton launches are scheduled for November and December, Khrunichev
spokesman Alexander Bobrenyov said.
Russian and Kazakh media quoted Musabayev as saying the accident was likely
caused by the failure of steering mechanisms aboard the rocket, but
Bobrenyov said it was too early to make that determination.
Russia has been aggressively trying to expand its presence in the
international market for commercial and government satellite and
space-industry launches, though its efforts have seen several high-profile
failures.
The July 2006 incident involved a Dnepr rocket carrying 18 satellites for
various clients that crashed shortly after takeoff from the Baikonur,
spreading highly toxic fuel over a wide swath of uninhabited territory in
Kazakhstan.
The JCSAT-11 satellite, made by U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Commercial Space
Systems, was to be used by Japan's JSAT Corp., International Launch Services
said in a news release. The heavy-lift Proton, a top income-generator for
Russia's space industry, is made by Khrunichev, a partner in International
Launch Services.