Proton Launch Preview: Proton booster scheduled for launch 6:59 a.m.Tuesday Moscow time. By Anatoly Zak Staff Writer posted: 03:15 pm ET 05 June 2000 ET
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Personnel at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan have all but completed the preparation for a crucial liftoff of a Proton booster.
The launch is scheduled for Monday 10:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (Tuesday, 02:59 GMT; 6:59 a.m. Moscow Time) from pad 24 in Area 81 of the Russian base. It will be a first-time test of the improved engines on the second and third stage of the Proton rocket.
Known as Phase 2, the engines were modified in the wake of the two Proton crashes last year. If they perform flawlessly in two launches this month, the new engines will be cleared for use on the launch vehicle that will carry the Zvezda service module -- a critical element of the International Space Station (ISS) currently scheduled to be launched this July.
The launch, whose primary purpose is to test the modified Proton rocket, will place a 4,850-pound (2,200-kilogram) communications satellite, called Gorizont 45, into orbit.
A Gorizont communications satellite
The State Commission overseeing today's flight is scheduled to convene on Monday at 2 p.m. EST (18:00 GMT; 10 p.m. Moscow Time) to give the go-ahead to fuel the launch vehicle. If everything goes as planned, the Proton's fuel tanks will be loaded with highly toxic propellants starting at 3:40 p.m. EST (19:40 GMT; 11:40 p.m. Moscow Time) on Monday and will continue until 6 p.m. EST (22:00 GMT; Tuesday, 2:35 a.m. Moscow Time).
The launch pad service tower allowing access to the Proton booster will start rolling away at 9:49 p.m. EST on Monday (Tuesday, 01:49 GMT; 5:49 a.m. Moscow Time).
The launch will also test the Breeze M upper stage, which promises to improve the performance of the Proton rocket in the missions beyond low Earth orbit. In what will be its second launch attempt, Breeze M is expected to fire five times to place the Gorizont 45 satellite into orbit above the equator.
The first Breeze upper stage was destroyed when its Proton booster exploded shortly after the launch last July.
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