Rocket Carrying Satellite Failed To Reach Orbit

A Soyuz 2 launch vehicle failed to place a communications satellite in orbit Friday, the second unmanned launch vehicle failure for the Russians in five months.

File Photo

The rocket was boosting a Meridian-5 satellite into orbit for the Russian news service RIA Novosti. The BBC reports that the Soyuz-2.1b booster is the most modern variant of the Russian's signature launch vehicle, which was designed in the 1960s. The failure reportedly occurred about seven minutes into the flight due to what was described as "an anomaly" in the third stage engine. The debris from the launch was reported to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere shortly after, and impacted the ground in western Siberia.

August's failure of a Soyuz-U was also a third stage anomaly which was eventually traced back to a blocked fuel line, but the engines are different in the rocket used for Friday's launch. According to the BBC, the Interfax news agency quoted a Russian space official as saying "the satellite failed to go into its orbit. A state commission will investigate the causes of the accident."

Russia is scheduled to launch six satellites for the Globalstar satellite phone company on the 28th from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is not known if or how Friday's failure will affect that launch. The previous unmanned failure caused a six week delay in the following manned launch, which finally successfully lifted a crew to ISS last week. (File image provided by NASA TV)

FMI: www.federalspace.ru/?lang=en