Proton returns to flight with GLONASS launch
Posted: Fri, Oct 26, 2007, 9:31 AM ET (1331 GMT)
A Russian Proton rocket launched three navigation satellites Friday in the first flight for the booster since a failure less than two months ago. The Proton K rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:35 am EDT (0735 GMT) Friday and placed three GLONASS navigation satellites into a medium Earth orbit. The three satellites will help repopulate the Russian navigation system that had deteriorated in the 1990s; additional launches will bring the GLONASS constellation back to its full strength of 24 satellites by 2009. The launch was the first Proton flight since a commercial Proton launch failed on September 6. That failure was traced to a faulty cable that prevented the first and second stages from separating. The next commercial Proton launch, of the Sirius 4 communications satellite for Swedish company SES Sirius, is scheduled for mid-November.
A Russian Proton rocket launched three navigation satellites Friday in the first flight for the booster since a failure less than two months ago. The Proton K rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:35 am EDT (0735 GMT) Friday and placed three GLONASS navigation satellites into a medium Earth orbit. The three satellites will help repopulate the Russian navigation system that had deteriorated in the 1990s; additional launches will bring the GLONASS constellation back to its full strength of 24 satellites by 2009. The launch was the first Proton flight since a commercial Proton launch failed on September 6. That failure was traced to a faulty cable that prevented the first and second stages from separating. The next commercial Proton launch, of the Sirius 4 communications satellite for Swedish company SES Sirius, is scheduled for mid-November.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Starship explodes during preparations for static-fire test
Posted: Sun, Jun 22 6:52 AM ET (1052 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, July 1
Move over Starlink, here comes Kuiper
Gulf News — 4:58 am ET (0858 GMT) USSF Seeks Industry Ideas For Space-Based Interceptors
Aviation Week — 4:57 am ET (0857 GMT) Don’t forget about Iran’s space program
POLITICO — 4:54 am ET (0854 GMT) EU Space Act is ‘orbital equivalent of GDPR’, says lawyer
Luxembourg Times — 4:53 am ET (0853 GMT) Poland’s second ever astronaut is safe in space
Euro Weekly News — 4:49 am ET (0849 GMT) |
