Russia's Proton rocket launches RI satellite
Russia's Proton rocket launches RI satellite
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters): Russia resumed launches of its key Proton rocket booster on Saturday, with the workhorse of Moscow's space program lifting an Indonesian satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome.
It was the first Proton to blast off from the space center since October, when a rocket of the same type failed shortly after takeoff, scattering debris over remote steppes and prompting Kazakhstan to suspend all Proton flights.
Under the suspension, lifted last week, other rockets were allowed to continue to take off.
The relief was palpable at the observation point overlooking the launch pad as the Proton kept its course through the 220- second mark, after which missions are generally taken to be safe.
It was carrying a Garuda-1 satellite, designed to improve mobile telephone communications in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Several Proton launches could not take place last year because of the bans," Igor Dodin, deputy director of Russia's Khrunichev space center in Moscow, said at Baikonur.
"If everything goes according to plan, we expect to launch seven commercial Proton missions this year and 12 in all including those for Russia's federal space program."
The most important Proton launch under the program this year will be the Zvezda living quarters for the International Space Station, a $60-billion joint venture between Russia, the United States, the European Space Agency, Canada and Japan.
Only the Proton is powerful enough to lift the heavy load, due to go into orbit in July. The mission has been delayed several times due to Russian funding problems.
The crash in October was a repeat of a Proton failure in July, which prompted authorities in Kazakhstan to slap a temporary ban on launches.
The Kazakh government lifted the latest suspension after Russia completed an investigation into the reasons for the October crash, paid compensation and promised other concessions.
The accident is said to have been caused by the presence of metal and mineral parts in one of the engines, which led to it igniting.
The proposed concessions include giving the vast former Soviet republic a greater share in future commercial missions.
Relations between the normally friendly neighboring states soured after the July crash. Russia was accused in Kazakhstan of failing to take the matter seriously and treating the Central Asian state of 15 million as if it were still a Moscow satellite.