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Power Woes Plague Plesetsk; May Hinder Launch
By Yuri Karash
Moscow Contributing Correspondent
posted: 05:05 pm ET
23 May 2001
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plesetsk_power_010523 According to sources at Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a limited electricity supply may hinder the launch of a Soyuz rocket scheduled to loft a military satellite into orbit on May 29. The electricity supply was reduced by Arkhangelskenergo, the utility that provides power to the facility. The Cosmodrome command asked the company's management to restore the regular amount of power, but Arkhangelskenergo refused to grant the request until the Plesetsk authorities agreed to schedule their facility's debt payments to the utility, now estimated to be about 51 million rubles ($1.8 million). Arkhangelskenergo warned the Cosmodrome authorities, as well as the Russian Space Forces Command, of the possibility of a complete power cutoff unless restitution was made. To avoid a serious disturbance of Cosmodrome operations, the Russian Ministry of Defense decided to pay Arkhangelskenergo the first part of the payment -- 10 million rubles ($343,395). The Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the worlds northernmost spaceport, is also its most active, having launched about 40 percent of all the world's satellites.
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