Fergie's Tech Blog

Russian Rocket Fails to Deliver U.S. Satellite to Proper Orbit

An AP newswire article, via USA Today, reports that:

An unmanned Russian rocket failed to put a U.S. telecommunication satellite into its target orbit because it developed a booster rocket malfunction after lifting off Saturday from the Baikonur space facility in Kazakhstan.

"The second booster module switched off earlier than expected, which resulted in the craft failing to reach its designated target orbit," said the state-controlled Khrunichev State Research and Production Center, which made the Proton-M rocket carrying the satellite.

A state commission will review the incident, but it may take up to a month to provide a full account of what happened, said Vyacheslav Davidenko, a deputy spokesman for the center.

The Russian federal space agency said that the satellite could still be steered, but that it is 5,000 miles short of its planned altitude of 22,400 miles.

posted by Fergie @ 3/15/2008 10:48:00 AM