A Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a Mexican satellite malfunctioned and crashed in Siberia soon after launch.
The third stage of the rocket carrying the MexSat-1 communications satellite suffered a problem about 500 seconds
after launch from the Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The cause of the accident, which meant the
satellite was not put into orbit, was not immediately established. RIA news
agency saying that all launches of carrier rockets of this type would now be
suspended.
The final stage of the Proton could still have
contained a few tonnes of heptyl, a highly toxic rocket propellant, when it
came down in the Chita region of Siberia, one space official was quoted as
saying.
Russia's workhorse Proton rocket, known at the
time under its UR-500 code, made its first test flights in the mid-1960s.
It was originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile
to carry a nuclear warhead
targeting the Soviet Union's Cold War foe the United States. But it was never
deployed as a nuclear weapon.
Russia's space industry, which pioneered space
exploration with the launch of the first satellite and put the first man into
space, has been haunted by accidents which have tarnished its reputation.
In late April, Russia abandoned a 2.6 billion
rouble ($51 million) mission to supply the International Space Station, (ISS),
after an unmanned Progress M-27M cargo ship, carrying almost 3 tonnes (2,722
kg) of supplies, was unable to dock with the ISS because of problems.
In July 2013, a Proton carrier rocket carrying
three navigation satellites worth around $200 million crashed shortly after
lift-off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome.
Just a few hours before Proton's crash today,
the Progress M-26M spaceship docked at the ISS failed to ignite its engines and
correct the orbit of the space outpost, Russian media reported.
The lives of the crew are not in danger, they
said.
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