Rocket crash, new blow to Russian space – Parool.nl

16-05-15 10:30 – Source: Reuters

The launcher of a proton-M rocket © epa

A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has crashed today in the Chita region of Siberia. The rocket, which was to bring a Mexican communications satellite into orbit, was about eight minutes earlier taken off from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan.

It is a new blow for the Russian space. Last week burned an unmanned Russian space freighter fully, when it fell through the atmosphere. The Progress M-27M was on April 28, put away the air, but the flight center in Moscow lost control of the freighter. Immediately after the launch from Baikonur there were problems. Two of the five antennas did not open, so the rocket landed in the wrong orbit.

It is still unclear whether the crash of the launcher in it has caused very sparsely populated Chita damage on the ground .

Progress

Last week burned Progress had more than three tons of goods on board, and would further the oxygen – water supply and complete the ISS. The crew there does not need to fear shortages, already one starts or drawing down stocks.

The Progress ships are reliable; in the past sixteen years is a supply mission lost only once. In 2011 it went wrong during the final phase of the launch, making the freighter crashed on Russian territory. Since then just the Space Shuttle was scrapped, it was feared that the ISS had to be temporarily evacuated. That ultimately proved unnecessary. Meanwhile delivers both Russia and Japan also US commercial SpaceX Loads off to the ISS. Competitor Orbital program has been temporarily stopped after the accident in October.

(Editor)