Russian satellite crashes shortly after launch

Russian satellite crashes shortly after launch

2011-12-24 01:08:36 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- A Russian attempt to place a communications satellite in orbit failed on Friday when it crashed near the Siberian city of Tobolsk minutes after liftoff, local media reported.

The Meridian satellite launched from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia on board a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket. Meridian-series communication satellites are designed to provide communication between vessels, airplanes and coastal stations on the ground, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

"An accident occurred at the 421st second of the Meridian satellite launch from the Plesetsk spaceport in the off-normal work of the propulsion unit of the third stage of the launch vehicle. The satellite failed to reach a low orbit," Aerospace Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told Itar-Tass news agency.

A state commission is investigating the cause of the accident, Zolotukhin said.

The Soyuz-2 is an upgraded version of the rocket which has been in service since the 1960s. In August, another Soyuz rocket launch failed, leading to a six-week suspension of flights.

The Russian Progress M-12M was launched aboard the Soyuz-U carrier rocket from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 24. The Russian Federal Space Agency, commonly called Roscosmos, said an engine failure made it impossible for the spacecraft to achieve the required orbital velocity and fell down to Earth.

Russia has carried out more than 130 successful launches of Progress space freighters since they entered service in 1972. The crash in August was the first loss of a Progress freighter in the history of Russia's space industry.

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