Tue, Dec 27, 2011
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)
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