* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: JCSAT-11 satellite

Blobrana · L

The Proton-M rocket, which was launched from the Baikonur space centre at 10:43 p.m. GMT Wednesday (2:43 a.m. Thursday Moscow time), experienced an engine malfunction and second-stage separation failure 139 seconds into its flight, and came down in the central Kazakh steppe, 50 kilometres southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan.

"The Proton is a heavy rocket, which uses highly toxic heptyl as fuel" - spokesman for the Federal Space Agency.

Blobrana · L

Governmental commission studying aftermath of Proton-M carrier rockets wreck discovered 22 sites of the fall of the rockets debris.
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"According to the experts of the National Space Agency: after the launch at the 135th second the engine of the second stage got automatically disconnected. Switching off occurred due to failure of steering machines operating vector force due to de-energising" - Talgat Musabayev, Director of Aerospace Agency of Republic of Kazakhstan.

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Blobrana · L

Investigators in Kazakhstan have found a huge crater and debris from a Russian rocket which crashed in unpopulated countryside on Thursday.
The Proton-M rocket was carrying a Japanese communications satellite.
Fragments weighing up to 400kg and a crater 45 metres wide were found in a cattle-grazing area near the city of Dzhezkazgan.

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Blobrana · L

Debris of the Proton-M booster rocket, carrying the Japanese JCSAT-11 communications satellite, at the crash site in open countryside near Zhezkazgan.
The Proton-M booster rocket with the Japanese JCSAT-11 communications satellite on board crashed after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Image taken from a Kazakhstan television broadcast released on September 7, 2007.

Blobrana · L

Khrunichev and International Launch Services regret to announce the failure of the Proton launch vehicle to put the JCSAT-11 satellite into proper orbit for JSAT Corporation.
The Proton Breeze M rocket lifted off at 4:43 a.m. today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Proton launcher failed to inject JCSAT-11 into orbit due to an anomaly in second-stage operation.
A Russian State Commission is in the process of determining the reasons for the anomaly. ILS will release details when data become available. A copy of the official statement released by Khrunichev, which manufactures the Proton, will also be made available upon translation. In parallel with the State Commission, ILS will form its own Failure Review Oversight Board. The FROB will review the commission's final report and corrective action plan, in accord with U.S. and Russian government export control regulations.
ILS remains committed to providing reliable, timely launch services for all its customers. To this end, ILS will work diligently with its partner Khrunichev to return Proton to flight as soon as possible.

ILS Press release

Blobrana · L

A Russian rocket carrying a Lockheed Martin satellite built in Newtown veered off course and crashed soon after a predawn launch yesterday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
International Launch Services, of McLean, Va., the firm hired by Japan's JSAT Corp. to put the satellite in orbit, said the second stage of the Proton Breeze M launch vehicle "failed to inject JCSAT-11 into orbit."

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Blobrana · L

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Blobrana · L

A Proton rocket which was intended to launch the JCSAT-11 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit lifted off and successfully completed its first stage burn, but the second stage failed leading to loss of the rocket and satellite.
The launch vehicle was a Proton M booster with a Breeze M upper stage. More than 300 Proton rockets have been launched, all from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Following the launch failure, Kazakhstan suspended the launch of Proton rockets from Baikonur.

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