The Russian space industry continues suffering misfortunes: thus on Saturday, shortly after its launching the Proton-M carrier rocket with the Mexican MexSat-1 satellite on board fell in Siberia due to an emergency situation.
As Russian media inform, quoting the officials of the Russian Space Agency, on about the 500th second after launching the rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan an emergency happened in its third stage.
The exact cause of the accident, resulted in failure of putting the satellite into orbit, hasn’t been determined yet. Therefore, according to RIA Novosti with reference to a Russian official supervising the space industry, the program of launching these models of rockets will be suspended in the nearest future.
According to the official engaged in the Russian space industry and quoted by the agency, the last stage of the Proton rocket could contain several tons of heptyl, a high-toxic rocket fuel, at the moment of its fall in Chita Area within the Siberian Region of Russia.
The first test launches of the Russian cargo rocket Proton, being the workhorse of the Russian space industry previously known under the code UR-500, took place in the mid-60s of the past century.
It was originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile to deliver nuclear warheads to the target in view of potential war between the Soviet Union and the United States, its enemy in the Cold War. The missile, however, has never been used as a means of delivering nuclear charges.
In these latter times, the Russian space industry, which pioneered the development of outer space by launching into orbit the first satellite and the first man, has been suffering misfortunes and failures, casting clouds over its reputation.
In late April, Russia failed a mission costing RUR2.6 million (USD51 million) of delivering cargos to the International Space Station (ISS), when the unmanned Progress M-27M cargo vehicle with 3 tons (2 722 kg) of cargos on board failed to dock with ISS due to an emergency situation.
A year earlier, the failure overtook the Russian spacecraft Express-AM4R, burnt in the atmosphere after its launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the carrier rocket Proton-M. At that time the cause of the accident was called a manufacturing defect in rocket assembly.
In July 2013, the Proton carrier rocket with three navigation satellites costing about USD200 million on board crashed shortly after its launching from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome.
