Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Proton Launch Failure at Baikonur

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 2, 2013 2:55:29 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Proton Launch Failure at Baikonur

Sounds like it was a first stage engine problem, as one note says the DM-3 Upper Stage is not armed till 582 seconds after lift off.
Gary

О пуске ракеты-носителя «Протон-М»
:: 02.07.2013

     2 июля на космодроме Байконур при пуске ракеты-носителя (РН) «Протон-М» возникла аварийная ситуация.
     На участке выведения ракеты-носителя на 17 секунде ее полета произошло аварийное выключение двигателей и падение РН на территории космодрома приблизительно в 2,5 км от стартового комплекса.
     Стартовый комплекс и расчет запуска не пострадали. По предварительным данным на месте падения жертв и разрушений нет.
     Создана и приступила к работе аварийная комиссия под руководством заместителя руководителя Роскосмоса А.П.Лопатина.

Пресс-служба Роскосмоса

On start-up carrier rocket "Proton-M"
02.07.2013 ::

     July 2 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in missile launch vehicle (LV) "Proton-M" there was an emergency.
     On the ascent rocket by 17 seconds of its flight was an emergency engine shut off and the fall in the pH of the cosmodrome at about 2.5 km from the launch site.
     Launch facility and run the calculation is not affected. According to preliminary data on the site of the crash victims and destructions.
     Created and started to work the emergency committee headed by the Deputy Head of Roscosmos A.P.Lopatina.

Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency

===============================================================

About the launch of integrated launch vehicle Proton-M with upper stage Block DM-03 and a cluster of Glonass-M spacecraft
July 2, 2013.
An off-nominal situation occurred at the Baikonur launch site during the launch of Proton-M launch vehicle (LV) with the upper stage Block DM-03 and a cluster of Glonass-M spacecraft soon after the LV first stage came into action, which resulted in the LV crashing into the ground and exploding in the launch pad area.
July 2, 2013
About the launch of integrated launch vehicle Proton-M with upper stage Block DM-03 and a cluster of Glonass-M spacecraft
An off-nominal situation occurred at the Baikonur launch site during the launch of Proton-M launch vehicle (LV) with the upper stage Block DM-03 and a cluster of Glonass-M spacecraft soon after the LV first stage came into action, which resulted in the LV crashing into the ground and exploding in the launch pad area.
The LV mission was to deliver the orbital module consisting of the upper stage and a cluster of spacecraft into a low Earth orbit, from where the upper stage was to deliver the spacecraft cluster into its target orbit around Earth.

For reference:
The LV lifted-off at 06:38 Moscow Time.
During ascent into the low Earth orbit the orbital module operates in passive mode until it separates from the LV at the end of the third stage operation, after which the spacecraft cluster is delivered to its target orbit as a result of two burns of the main engine on the upper stage.

© 2000 - 2013 S.P. Korolev RSC "Energia"

===============================================================

July 02, 2013 10:21
First stage engine failure could be behind Proton crash - Kazakh emergencies minister
ASTANA. July 2 (Interfax) - Kazakh Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhko has tentatively blamed a malfunction of the first stage engine for Tuesday's crash of a Russian Proton-M launch vehicle over the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
"The preliminary information available suggests that the accident was caused by a malfunctioning engine of the first stage. The fuel caught fire. Some of the fuel fell to the ground and continued burning there. The rocket was carrying a total of 172 tonnes of heptyl plus the oxidizer," Bozhko said at a government session in Astana on Tuesday.
Russian specialists have already set up three chemical protection stations on the premises of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, he said.
"There is a need to increase environmental monitoring around the cosmodrome and track down any possible traces of the recent explosion," Bozhko said.
tm

July 02, 2013 14:11
No casualties reported as yet in Proton-M rocket crash in Baikonur
MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - No casualties have been reported as yet in the Proton-M rocket crash and explosion at the Baikonur space center, a space center source told Interfax.
"According to the preliminary reports, there are no casualties or damage caused by the rocket crash," he said.
In his words, the rocket abruptly changed its trajectory and fell down at the fifth second of the flight.
The Proton-M was supposed to put into orbit three Glonass-M satellites to enlarge the navigation satellite cluster for the first time since 2011.
Te

July 02, 2013 14:14
Tuesday crash suspends next Proton-M launch - source
BAIKONUR. July 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Preparations to launch a Proton-M rocket with the Astra-2E foreign satellite aboard have been suspended for the crash investigation period, a space industry source told Interfax
"Launch preparations have been put on hold until the inquiry into the Proton-M crash is over," he said.
For now, Proton-M launches have been planned for July 21 and August 14. Both are likely to be delayed.
In all, six Proton-M launches are anticipated before the end of this year.
Te mk
©   1991—2013 Interfax Information Service. All rights reserved.

===============================================================

07:31 02/07/2013
Launch vehicle with satellites crashes after blastoff
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - The Proton-M launch vehicle with three Glonass-M navigation satellites crashed after the blast-off at Baikonur spaceport.
The rocket fell near the launch place shortly after the blast-off. The Proton began to break up already in the air.
An investigation is launched to establish the causes of the failure.

08:57 02/07/2013
No threat from rocket crash to residential areas
Photo ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - There is no threat to Kazakh residential sites after the rocket crash at Baikonur, a rescue and search service source told Itar-Tass.
The nearest residential site is about 70 km away. People are not evacuated, the source said.
Chemical control posts are stationed in the crash area. According to the preliminary information, no high concentration of harmful substances is detected.
The Proton-M launch vehicle with three Glonass-M navigation satellites crashed after the blast-off at Baikonur spaceport.
The rocket was launched from the 81st site at Baikonur exactly at the appointed time - at 06:38 MSK. However, almost immediately after the separation from the launch pad the rocket sharply deviated from the flight path, started to fall, began to disintegrate in the air, fell far from the launch pad and exploded.
An investigation is launched to establish the causes of the failure.
Glonass-M satellites
In April of this year from Plesetsk into orbit was successfully launched Glonass-M satellite. Glonass-M is a series of satellites of the Russian GLONASS global navigation system of the 2nd generation. The satellites are designed and manufactured by "Information Satellite Systems" n.a. Reshetnev. They differ from the devices of the Glonass series /of the 1st generation/ due to guaranteed lifetime of 7 years. These satellites, unlike the previous generation devices, transmit two signals for civilian users that allow to improve the positioning accuracy. Currently the constellation of GLONASS satellites consists of 24 navigation system devices used for their intended purpose. They provide global coverage of the entire planet irrespective of the time of year, day and weather conditions. Another four spacecrafts are orbiting reserve. Furthermore, the newest satellite GLONASS-K is already undergoing flying tests.
Space program failures
Failures pursued the Russian space industry in the past year. On August 7, 2012 the rocket Proton-M couldn't bring satellites on orbit. The reason was the upper stage engine shut down.
On August 31, Vladimir Putin said that he considers necessary to improve the space industry. In September, Vladimir Nesterov was dismissed from the position of General Director of the State Research and Production Space Center /Khrunichev/ n.a. Khrunichev. "We have no permanent staff," - said the then head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin. Nesterov replaced Vasily Sychev. Later, Dmitry Medvedev proposed a financial liability of legal persons for the poor quality of products the space industry.
This failure of Proton-M was not the first accident of this type of rocket. An incident with Proton received a great response in September 2007. Then the rocket that was set to launch a Japanese commercial satellite, fell near the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan, in which at the time was the country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Kazakh authorities have estimated that the damage to the country amounted to about $60 million.
In 2011, as a result of the accident was lost the space truck Progress M-12M, the same year were lost military satellite Geo-IK-2, Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and a dual-purpose satellite Meridian. Meanwhile, it is expected to invest 650 billion rubles in the Russian space industry until 2015.

10:46 02/07/2013
Exploded rocket Proton was carrying 500 tonnes of fuel
Photo ITAR-TASS
ASTANA, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - The rocket Proton-M, which exploded in right after the launch, was carrying 500 tonnes of fuel, when falling poisonous components could have gotten in the environment, the Kazakh insurance company Evrazia told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
"At the moment of the blast the launch vehicle was carrying about 500 tonnes of fuel. The rocket fuel contains heptyl and amyl - poisonous substances, which could have gotten in the layers of the atmosphere and ground after the blast," a press officer of the insurance company Evrazia said.
"The cleanup should be done at the crash site," he added.
The launch of the rocket Proton-M with three Russian navigation satellites Glonass-M was scheduled at 08:38 Astana time (06:38 Moscow time) from the launching site number 81 of the spaceport Baikonur on July 2, 2013, the press release of the insurance company said. The separation of the orbital block from the third stage of the booster was to take place after 582 seconds of the flight. The putting of the satellites Glonass-M by the upper stage rocket DM-03 on the target orbit was expected about six hours after the launch.
"As a result of the incident the emergency launch of the booster was made. Several minutes after the launch the rocket got on the wrong trajectory and exploded 70 kilometres from the launching site," the he said.
The press release also noted that this is the first for the last several years launch of spacecraft that ended in the blast.
The insurance company Evrazia was involved in the insurance of the rocket Proton-M.
Glonass-M satellites
In April of this year from Plesetsk into orbit was successfully launched Glonass-M satellite. Glonass-M is a series of satellites of the Russian GLONASS global navigation system of the 2nd generation. The satellites are designed and manufactured by "Information Satellite Systems" n.a. Reshetnev. They differ from the devices of the Glonass series /of the 1st generation/ due to guaranteed lifetime of 7 years. These satellites, unlike the previous generation devices, transmit two signals for civilian users that allow to improve the positioning accuracy. Currently the constellation of GLONASS satellites consists of 24 navigation system devices used for their intended purpose. They provide global coverage of the entire planet irrespective of the time of year, day and weather conditions. Another four spacecrafts are orbiting reserve. Furthermore, the newest satellite GLONASS-K is already undergoing flying tests.
Space program failures
Failures pursued the Russian space industry in the past year. On August 7, 2012 the rocket Proton-M couldn't bring satellites on orbit. The reason was the upper stage engine shut down.
On August 31, Vladimir Putin said that he considers necessary to improve the space industry. In September, Vladimir Nesterov was dismissed from the position of General Director of the State Research and Production Space Center /Khrunichev/ n.a. Khrunichev. "We have no permanent staff," - said the then head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin. Nesterov replaced Vasily Sychev. Later, Dmitry Medvedev proposed a financial liability of legal persons for the poor quality of products the space industry.
This failure of Proton-M was not the first accident of this type of rocket. An incident with Proton received a great response in September 2007. Then the rocket that was set to launch a Japanese commercial satellite, fell near the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan, in which at the time was the country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Kazakh authorities have estimated that the damage to the country amounted to about $60 million.
In 2011, as a result of the accident was lost the space truck Progress M-12M, the same year were lost military satellite Geo-IK-2, Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and a dual-purpose satellite Meridian. Meanwhile, it is expected to invest 650 billion rubles in the Russian space industry until 2015.

11:11 02/07/2013
Putin informed about crash of rocket Proton-M at Baikonur
MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the crash of the rocket Proton-M at the Baikonur spaceport, Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
"The president was informed about it," he said.
The rocket Proton-M with three satellites Glonass-M was launched at 06:38 Moscow time from the launching site number 81 at the Baikonur spaceport. Right after the takeoff from the launching pad the rocket deviated sharply from the flight trajectory, at first began breaking up in the air and fell down not far from the launch site and exploded.
The Federal Space Agency reported that the incident occurred on the 17th minute of flight over the emergency activation of the engines. After the blast a smoking cloud of burning heptyl was formed. The launching site and the launching team were not affected.

12:54 02/07/2013
Failed Glonass-M satellites launch not to affect operation of navigation system
Photo ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - The failed launch of three Glonass-M satellites will not affect the operation of the navigation system, a communications industry source told Itar-Tass.
"There'll be no consequences / of the failed launch of the satellites/. The system operates normally; satellites are gradually replaced," the expert said adding that four reserve satellites are currently in orbit.
A Proton-M booster carrying three Glonass-M satellites met with an accident on Tuesday morning immediately after the launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Currently, the cluster of GLONASS satellites comprises 29 units, of which 23 are in dedicated use. One satellite is undergoing maintenance, one is being tested and four make the reserve.
Glonass-M is a 2nd generation spacecraft of Russia's global satellite navigation system, produced by the Reshetnev information satellite systems JSC. Its service life is seven years, compared with just three years of the 1st generation unit. Glonass-M transmits two signals for civilian consumers which considerably enhances the point positioning accuracy.

13:59 02/07/2013
Medvedev demands names of guilty in booster rocket accident
GORKI, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reported to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the details of the accident in which a Proton-M booster rocket crashed near the Baikonur cosmodrome, a spokeswoman said.
Medvedev had ordered Rogozin to set up a government commission to find the cause of the accident and demanded a list of the guilty persons, including high-ranking Roskosmos officials, the premier's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said.
Rogozin will also have to work out and present a list of measures to tighten control in aerospace with the view of preventing similar accidents in the future.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the accident.
A Proton-M booster carrying three Glonass-M satellites blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 06:38, Moscow time on Tuesday. Immediately after the launch, it deviated from the trajectory and began to disintegrate in midair. It fell near the launch site and exploded. Roskosmos said the accident occurred in the 17th second of the flight because of emergency engine shutdown. An aerospace source said the accident had not been caused by a breakdown of the DM-03 accelerator unit.
A heptyl cloud formed after the explosion. The launch pad and the launch crew were not harmed.
Vice president of the GLONASS federal network operator Yevgeny Belyanko said the loss of three satellites would not affect the operation of the GLONASS system.

14:40 02/07/2013 Top News
Emergency launch of rocket Proton-M not linked with malfunction of upper stage rocket DM-03
Photo ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - The emergency launch of a rocket Proton-M is not linked with the malfunction of the upper stage rocket DM-03, a source in the rocket and space industry told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
"The incident occurred on the first seconds of launch, the upper stage rocket DM-03 was to be activated at the 585th second," the source said, adding that the upper stage rocket, when the rocket exploded, "was still in the standby mode."
"The upper stage rocket DM-03 did not have flight remarks in its service life, as this is one of the most reliable upper stage rockets," he noted.
In his view, the critical parameters appeared at the fourth second of flight during the launch, at the 12th second the launch vehicle began shaking, at the 17th second the command for the emergency deactivation of the engines was formed, the rocket exploded at the 32nd second.
The incident occurred at "the initial stage of operation of the first stage of the booster," the rocket and space corporation Energia said in a report posted at its official website.
"The orbital block (the upper stage block and the block of spacecraft) operates in the passive mode until the separation from the launch vehicle at the end of operation of its third stage, after that the delivery of spacecraft on the target orbit is done as a result of two turns-on of the cruise engine of the upper stage rocket," the report said.
The rocket Proton-M with three satellites Glonass-M was launched at the exact scheduled time at 06:38 Moscow time from the launching site number 81 of the spaceport Baikonur on Tuesday. However, right after the takeoff from the launching pad the rocket deviated sharply from the flight trajectory, began falling apart in the midair, fell down not far from the launch site and exploded.

© Copyright 2013 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.

===============================================================

Russian Rocket Crashes Seconds After Launch, Toxic Fuel Alight
15:09 02/07/2013
Original story published at 07:20
Recast throughout with new details, comments and new headline, Medvedev reaction
MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass satellites veered off course seconds after its launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur space center early Tuesday, crashing in a large fireball.
"There was an accident during the Proton-M launch. The rocket fell and exploded on the territory of the launch site," a spokesman for Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.
There were no reported casualties, but officials said a cloud of poisonous smoke was generated by the rocket's burning fuel and could spread across the local area. An emergency evacuation of personnel at the site was underway, according to Russian media reports.
The reasons for the crash were not immediately clear, but Kazakhstan's Emergencies Ministry said a near instantaneous failure of the rocket's first-stage engine was to blame.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a governmental commission to be formed to look into the causes of the crash and present a list of officials responsible for the accident, the prime minister's press secretary Natalya Timakova said.
Medvedev also instructed Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to draw up a list of measures to tighten oversight of the space sector and prevent such accidents in the future, she said.
It is the second unsuccessful launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket with Russia's flagship Glonass positioning system on board in the last three years, and is another setback for Moscow's space program.

The blast-off, which took place from Baikonur at 8:38 a.m. local time, was broadcast live by Rossiya-24 television channel. Footage shows the rocket rolling while flying a wobbly arc, beginning to disintegrate as it catches fire and then slamming into the ground in a large ball of flame and black smoke. The whole flight lasted 17 seconds, according to Roscosmos.
There was 600 tons of highly toxic heptyl, amyl and kerosene rocket fuels on board, according to Talgat Musabaev, the head of Kazakhstan's space agency.
Rain was helping to contain the poisonous smoke given off from the burning fuel, but it "might" continue to drift, said the head of Kazakhstan's Emergencies Ministry Vladimir Bozhko. The nearest town to the launch site is about 60 kilometers (36 miles) away and is rented and administered by Russia.
Work at the Baikonur space center will probably be suspended for the next two or three months because of contamination, a source in the Russian space industry told RIA Novosti. A scheduled launch of a Progress M-20M spacecraft from Baikonur on July 27 is likely to be delayed, the source added.
A commission headed by Roscosmos deputy head Alexander Lopatin will be set up to investigate the causes of the crash, a Roscosmos spokesman said.
The financial cost of the accident is unclear, but the rocket was insured for 6 billion rubles ($182 million) with the Russian Insurance Center, according an insurance industry source.
The accident is the latest in a series of problems that have plagued Russia's Glonass program, which was begun during the Soviet era and reinvigorated with huge cash injections in the 2000s. The Kremlin's answer to the US' GPS system, Glonass has also been the center of several recent corruption scandals.
The Proton-M rocket has suffered a string of technical problems and launch failures. Three Glonass satellites were lost in December 2010 when a Proton-M veered off course and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. That incident was blamed on engineers overloading the rocket with fuel, said International Launch Services, the US firm that markets commercial Proton launches.
© RIA Novosti.
Losses from Failed Roscosmos Launches

Another Proton-M mission was unsuccessful in December 2010 after a failure in the rocket's upper-stage Briz engine, its maker Khrunichev said. A control system glitch caused the loss of a Proton-M in August 2011, while complications with a Briz engine led to the loss of a Proton mission a year later.
The partial failure of a Briz booster on a Proton rocket in December 2012 caused the payload to be put into an incorrect orbit, which was later corrected, Roscosmos said.

© 2013 RIA Novosti

===============================================================

PROTON ROCKET CRASHES
BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW
July 1, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EJ5__1PPgNQ
A Russian Proton rocket went out of control and slammed into the steppes of Kazakhstan mere moments after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday night.
The government booster was carrying three Russian navigation satellites on the ill-fated mission that launched at 0238 GMT (10:38 p.m. EDT).
Live video showed the Proton gyrating left and then right as it ascended off the pad before going horizontal, barrel rolling and falling into a nose dive. The front end of the rocket sheared away and the main stage erupted in a massive fireball before hitting the ground in a horrific explosion.
The entire flight appeared to last a half-minute.
Russian rockets do not carry self-destruct explosives like Western boosters, which prevented any attempt to destroy the wayward Proton before impact.
A Russian Federal Space Agency statement said an emergency committee being created would be headed by Deputy Head of Roscosmos Alexander Lopatin.
Standing 19-stories tall, the rocket weighed nearly 1.5 million pounds at launch, its first three stages loaded with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants and the upper stage filled with kerosene and liquid oxygen.
The Proton is built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production and RSC Energia makes the Block DM upper stage.
Six main engines ignite at liftoff to power the vehicle away from the launch pad and burns for two minutes. The second stage and its four engines fire through five-and-a-half minutes of the mission before the third stage and its single engine takes over. The upper stage then completes the necessary burns to shape the orbit for deployment of the spacecraft.
Monday's launch featured a three-stage Proton core vehicle topped with a Block DM upper stage to maneuver three GLONASS navigation satellites -- Nos. 48, 49 and 50 -- into their desired Earth orbit.
The flight was carrying fresh craft for the space-based navigation constellation, which transmits positioning signals for military and civilian users. The satellites fly 12,000 miles above the planet in 64.8-degree inclination orbits. The system is similar in concept to the U.S. GPS network.
It was 388th Proton rocket to launch since 1965 and the fifth this year, following a series of commercial missions.
The program has suffered five failures in the past two-and-a-half years, mostly due to upper stage issues. Three other GLONASS satellites were lost in a botched launch in late 2010 due to a fuel miscalculation that prevented the vehicle from reaching orbit.
The next launch, presumably grounded for the investigation, was slated for July 21 carrying the commercial ASTRA 2E broadcast satellite for Europe.

© 2013 Spaceflight Now Inc.

===============================================================
Russian booster rocket crashes in Kazakhstan
Associated Press
View Photo
Associated Press/ Vesti 24 via APTN - In this frame grab made from TV footage distributed by Russian Vesti 24 channel Russian booster rocket carrying three satellites crashes at a Russia-leased cosmodrome in …more

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian booster rocket carrying three satellites crashed shortly after launch at a Russian-leased cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Tuesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EJ5__1PPgNQ
The Proton-M booster unexpectedly shut down the engine 17 seconds into the flight and crashed some 2 kilometers (over a mile) away from the Baikonur launch pad, the Russian Space Agency said in a statement.
News channel Rossiya-24 broadcast the launch live on Tuesday morning. The footage showed the rocket tilt to one side shortly after the launch, curve downward, catch fire and crash.
Russian officials said there were no casualties or damage immediately reported. Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency quoted Kazakh Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhkov as saying that the burning rocket fuel has blanketed the launch pad with a toxic cloud. But he said authorities have yet to determine its potential danger to the environment.
Another Proton-M booster carrying two satellites crashed in Baikonur in August 2012. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev chided officials after that incident, saying that Russia had lost 10 satellites in seven failed launches in just over a year.
Russian space officials have blamed the failures on manufacturing flaws and engineering mistakes. But observers say that the problem is rooted in a post-Soviet industrial meltdown that has stalled the modernization of the space industry.
Medvedev on Tuesday instructed Dmitry Rogozin, the point man for industry and space, to come up with a plan to tighten control of the space industry and prevent accidents like this one from happening.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
===============================================================
Russia loses $200 million satellites as launch ends in firey failure
By Dmitry Solovyov | Reuters

By Dmitry Solovyov
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites worth around $200 million crashed shortly after lift-off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan on Tuesday after its engines suddenly switched off.
The accident led to a large spill of heptyl, a highly toxic rocket propellant, but there were no reports of casualties or of any immediate threat to nearby settlements.
State-run Rossiya-24 television showed footage of the Proton-M booster rocket veering off course seconds after lift-off. It fell apart in flames in the air and crashed in a ball of fire near the launch pad.
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying launch-pad personnel were in bunkers when the rocket lifted off.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the accident had been caused by the emergency switch-off of the rocket's engines 17 seconds into the flight.
Russia's state-run RIA news agency said the switch-off could have been caused by a problem with the engine or the guidance system.
The rocket contained 172 metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.1023 tons) of highly toxic heptyl propellant, Kazakh Emergencies Minister Vladimir Bozhko told an emergency government meeting.
Talgat Musabayev, head of Kazakhstan's space agency Kazcosmos, said nitric oxide - a product of burning heptyl - was much less toxic for humans. He said it was raining in the area, so toxic clouds would probably not reach the town of Baikonur some 60 km (38 miles) away.
However, the authorities instructed locals to stay at home and not to open windows, and ordered to close shops and public catering, said Kazakh Interior Minister Kalmukhambet Kasymov.
The estimated loss from the three satellites, meant for Russia's troubled Glonass satellite navigation system, was about $200 million, Rossiya-24 reported.
Russia plans to spend more than 300 billion roubles ($9.1 billion) by 2020 on Glonass, its answer to the U.S. GPS system.
The system, first conceived by the Soviet Union more than 40 years ago, has been plagued by failed launches, including one in 2010 in which three satellites were also lost, and by suspicions of corruption and embezzlement. Its chief designer was dismissed last year during a fraud investigation.
The Proton rocket, known at the time under its UR-500 code, made its first test flights in the mid-1960s.
It was originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile to carry a nuclear warhead targeting the Soviet Union's Cold War foe the United States. But it was never deployed as a nuclear weapon.
Several crashes of Proton rockets accompanied by spills of heptyl have led to temporary strains in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russia is increasing spending on space and plans to send a probe to the moon in 2015, but the pioneering program that put the first man in space in 1961 has been plagued in recent years by setbacks, including botched satellite launches and a failed attempt to send a probe to a moon of Mars.
(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Raushan Nurshayeva in Asatana; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Jon Boyle)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013.  All rights reserved.
===============================================================
Unmanned Russian rocket explodes on takeoff
AFP Updated July 2, 2013, 3:16 pm

AFP © Unmanned Russian rocket explodes on takeoff
MOSCOW (AFP) - An unmanned Russian carrier rocket exploded on takeoff at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, releasing 600 tonnes of highly toxic fuel into the air in images broadcast live on television.
Spectacular footage showed the Proton-M rocket veering off its trajectory just seconds after its 6:38 am (0238 GMT) launch, before erupting into a ball of flames and unleashing clouds of noxious black smoke.
The Russian space agency Roskosmos, citing preliminary information, said the accident caused no damage or casualties.
"It seems something is going wrong," said a television commentator during the live coverage of the launch. "Something is wrong. It seems it will be a catastrophe," said the presenter, his voice trembling, shortly before the rocket exploded.
The rocket was supposed to take three Russian Glonass-M navigation satellites into space.
"A rocket carrier fell to the ground and exploded on the territory of the cosmodrome," the space agency said in a statement, adding that the rocket fell on the territory of the Baikonur cosmodrome which Russia leases from ex-Soviet Kazakhstan.
The space agency said that during the accident, which took place 10-15 seconds after takeoff, toxic rocket fuel was released into the air.
Kazakh officials said the fumes that may present a danger to the local population.
A Roskosmos spokesman could not immediately say whether people living near the crash site were being evacuated.
But residents of several towns close to the cosmodrome including Baikonur were requested to stay indoors and keep their windows shut, a spokeswoman for the Kazakh emergencies ministry, Kristina Mohamed, told AFP.
The rocket carried 600 tonnes of kerosene, heptyl and amyl which are highly poisonous components of rocket fuel, said the head of the Kazakh space agency, Talgat Musabayev.
"A smoke cloud has now been formed out of burnt heptyl," head of the emergencies ministry in Kazakhstan, Vladimir Bozhko, told a government meeting in Astana.
"It is now located above the territory of the cosmodrome, the speed of the wind is 2.6 metres (per second)," he said, adding the cloud could move beyond the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Bozhko was quoted as saying that according to preliminary information the accident was caused by a malfunction of a first-stage engine.
Sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first sputnik satellite four years earlier are among key accomplishments of the Russian space programme and remain a major source of national pride in the country.
But more recently, Russia has suffered several major setbacks in its space programme, notably losing expensive satellites and an unmanned supply ship to the International Space Station.
The most recent disaster brought to memory a rocket explosion at the same Baikonur cosmodrome in 1960 when a prototype rocket exploded on the launch pad and released the highly poisonous rocket fuel known as the "devil's venom."
During the 1960 accident, which the Russian space agency has called a veritable "inferno," 126 people were burned alive or vaporised altogether, while others died of noxious fumes or succumbed to burns later.
The Soviet Union, which was locked in an arms race with the United States, imposed total secrecy over the disaster, and the files were only declassified in the 1990s.

===============================================================

Russian rocket carrying satellites crashes after takeoff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EJ5__1PPgNQ

Russian Proton-M launch failure
By Sergei L. Loiko
July 1, 2013, 9:37 p.m.
MOSCOW – An unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three satellites exploded and crashed early Tuesday seconds after launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome in neighboring Kazakhstan.
The unfolding drama was broadcast live on Rossiya 24, the Russian news television channel.
"What a beautiful sight!" the news announcer said as the rocket lifted off from the launching pad. But seconds later he gasped when the rocket suddenly turned sideways and caught fire. "But something is going wrong! Something is wrong! It seems to be a catastrophe!"

The rocket hit the ground in a burst of fire and black smoke not far from the launching pad. No casualties were reported in the newscast.

The rocket carried three satellites of the Glonass system, Russia's equivalent to the global positioning system, or GPS. It was equipped with a DM-3 booster being used for the first time since December 2010, when a Proton-M rocket also failed to launch three Glonass satellites into space. Those satellites then fell into the Pacific.
Proton-M rockets are produced at Khrunichev Space Center in Moscow.
The crash probably was unrelated to the DM-3 booster, said Sergei Gromov, the leading engineer of Space Corp. Energia.
"DM-3 was to be switched into motion only about an hour after the launch so obviously it cannot be the problem," Gromov said in an interview with The Times.
"Accidents do happen in [the Russian space program] but we shouldn't see a tendency here either as there have been several successful launches of Proton-M recently."
Gromov said that the highly toxic liquid rocket fuel called heptil in Russian can seriously contaminate the launching area and harm the cosmodrome equipment.
Tuesday's disaster came as the Russian Investigative Committee is reportedly looking into the alleged embezzlement of millions of dollars associated with agencies involved in Glonass construction.
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times
===============================================================

Russian Rocket Explodes and Crashes In Failed Launch
by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
02 July 2013 Time: 12:06 AM ET

A Russian Proton rocket pitches nose down shortly before crashing after a failed launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 2, 2013 Local Time
CREDIT: Tsenki TV
View full size image
A Russian rocket exploded in a massive fireball late Monday (July 1), destroying three navigation satellites after a failed launch that appeared to veer out of control shortly after liftoff and crash back to Earth.
The unmanned Proton rocket lifted off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:38 p.m. EDT (0238 GMT), where the local time was early morning on Tuesday, July 2.
Video of the launch shows the 17-story rocket rising from its launch pad, then oscillating wildly and rolling as it pitched over and plunged back to Earth. The rocket burst into flames and began to break apart just before slamming into the ground and erupting into a colossal conflagration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EJ5__1PPgNQ
Built by Russia's Krunichev State Research and Production Center, the Proton rocket was carrying three Glonass navigation satellites for Russia. It marked the fifth Proton rocket launch of 2013.
A massive explosion erupts after a Russian rocket crashes into the ground following a failed launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 2, 2013 Local Time.
CREDIT: Tsenki TV
View full size image
Russia's Proton rockets have suffered five major launch failures since December 2010. The most recent failure was in December 2012, when a Proton rocket launched a telecommunications satellite into the wrong orbit.
The Proton rocket family returned to flight in March of this year and was followed by three successful flights until Monday's failed launch.
This latest Proton rocket incident will likely lead to an in-depth investigation to trace the cause of the launch failure, with further launches awaiting the conclusion of that analysis.

Copyright © 2013 TechMediaNetwork.com All rights reserved.

===============================================================