Russian rocket feared lost with satellites from seven countries
A PAYLOAD of satellites launched from Russia’s new spaceport has failed to reach orbit and is feared to have been lost in the ocean.
The Soyuz rocket carrying a Meteorm weather satellite and 18 smaller spacecraft from Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, took off yesterday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which Moscow is building near the border with China in the far east.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russian’s space tsar and deputy prime minister, declared the launch a success and congratulated the launch crew: “Thank you and good luck. Glory to Russia!”
However, the state space agency Roscosmos later said that although the upper stage had reached interim orbit, the satellite then failed to make contact with ground control “because of its absence in the final orbit”. The Interfax news agency quoted a source as saying the upper stage fired a booster in the wrong direction and fell into the Atlantic Ocean, likely because of a human error. A spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the president, called on journalists not to rush to conclusions.
It was the second launch from the partially finished cosmodrome and was watched by locals from a nearby highway. Meant to wean Russia off the Soviet-built Baikonur site in Kazakhstan, Vostochny has been plagued by delays and corruption allegations.
The mishap was another black eye for Russia’s space industry, which the US and other countries rely on to launch satellites and deliver crew members and supplies to the International Space Station. Twelve Russian launches have now failed since 2010.
The 2013 launch of a Proton-m rocket carrying three satellites for the Glonass system, Russia’s rival to GPS, was being broadcast on live television when it veered off course.