MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kazakhstan Tuesday lifted a ban on launches of Russian Proton rockets after Moscow paid compensation for a recent crash of one of the boosters, Interfax news agency reported.
It quoted Kazakh and Russian officials as saying after talks in Moscow that a launch of a Proton, one of the workhorses of the Russian space program, would take place on September 6.
Kazakhstan banned all launches from its Baikonour cosmodrome after a Proton-K rocket crashed on July 5, scattering debris over central areas of the country.
It later relented, halting only Proton launches pending a joint investigation.
Interfax quoted Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Pavlov as saying the ban had been lifted after the joint commission finished its investigation of the accident.
The agency quoted the head of Russia's space agency, Yuri Koptev, as saying Moscow had paid $270,000 in compensation.
Koptev was also quoted as saying preparations were being made for the September 6 launch of a Proton to take two Russian Yamal-100 communications satellites into space.
The Proton crash brought to the surface several issues which had annoyed the Kazakhs, including large arrears in the rent Russia pays for Baikonur, the main base for its space program.
The row had at one stage seemed to threaten the Mir space station, which had been awaiting a Progress ship from Baiknour with vital new supplies and computer equipment. Ultimately, the Progress was allowed to launch, and Mir was resupplied.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said the Kazakhs and Russians had worked well to solve the Proton problem.
"Rockets will of course crash in the future but now we have a fixed set of procedures in the case of such incidents," Interfax quoted him as saying.
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