Russia launched four
satellites aboard a Rockot booster from the country's northern spaceport
Friday, according to news reports.
The 95-foot-tall rocket,
capped with a Breeze KM upper stage, lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at
1520 GMT (11:20 a.m. EDT). The converted ballistic missile deployed the four
payloads into a 900-mile-high orbit less than two hours later, according to
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
Friday's launch was the
first flight of a Breeze upper stage since March, when a similar stage used on
the Proton rocket failed and stranded a U.S. communications satellite in a
useless orbit. The owners of the AMC 14 satellite declared
the craft a total loss to redeem a $150 million insurance payout.
Russian investigators
determined the cause
of the failure was a ruptured gas duct inside the Breeze M's engine.
Engineers said the duct could have burst due to structural erosion, high
temperatures and pressure fluctuations, according to International Launch
Services, the U.S.-based firm responsible for selling Proton rockets to commercial
satellite operators.
ILS officials say they will
not resume commercial Proton flights until further analysis is completed this
summer.
The Rockot was carrying
three Gonets communications satellites and a small spacecraft to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1957
launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite.
The Gonets satellites will
be used to relay data and text messages for the Russian military, government
agencies and private organizations.
Operated by Gonets SatCom
for the Russian government, the spacecraft are designed to last up to seven
years. The satellite fleet can provide communications coverage across Russian
territory.
The mission's other
payload, called Yubileiny, will broadcast audio messages, imagery, and tones similar
to the radio signals transmitted by Sputnik, according to a posting on the Web
site of NPO PM, a partner in the craft's development.
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