Tim, Is this recent news;
Globalstar satellites, rocket burn up as Russian launch fails
The Journal Record
MOSCOW (AP) -- Twelve U.S. commercial
satellites and the rocket that carried them
partially burned up in the atmosphere when the
Russian-organized launch failed minutes after
blastoff Thursday.
The Zenit-2 booster was launched by Russia's space agency from the
Baikonur cosmodrome, which Russia rents in the former Soviet republic of
Kazakstan.
The rocket's control system failed in its fifth minute of flight, shutting down
the engines. The Ukrainian manufacturer acknowledged it might be
responsible, saying it was probably a computer malfunction.
Fragments of the rocket and the Globalstar satellites fell in a sparsely
populated area in southern Siberia, the Russian Space Agency told the
ITAR-Tass news agency.
The satellites were built by Space Systems Loral, a subsidiary of [ Loral
Space ] and Communications Ltd. of New York.
The contract value wasn't announced, but a usual price for such launches is
about $30 million, ITAR-Tass said.
The Russian Space Agency blamed Yuzhnoye, the Ukrainian
government-owned rocket design and production center, for the failure,
ITAR-Tass reported.
"The launching was considered Ukraine's responsibility; the Russian side
exercised only general coordination of the work," space agency spokesman
Vyacheslav Mikhailichenko said.
The Yuzhnoye press office acknowledged the manufacturer might be at fault.
"We definitely exclude a rocket design error, but we can theorize about
manufacturing errors," the Interfax news agency quoted the press office as
saying.
Yuzhnoye officials said the cause most likely was a malfunction in the
rocket's computer, which controlled its engines. The computer was
produced by an institute in Moscow, Interfax said. Yuzhnoye said upcoming
launches should not be affected by Thursday's failure.
Five more launches are planned by mid-1999 to put 36 more Globalstar
satellites into orbit. Two Zenit-2 rockets will carry 12 satellites each, and the
other 12 will be put into orbit by three Russian Soyuz rockets.
Thursday's launch was the eighth failure of the two-stage Zenit-2 out of a
total of 31.
The same rocket is to be used in the Sea Launch international project to
carry out commercial launches from ocean platforms.
On the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares of Globalstar plunged 40 percent,
losing $7.12 1/2 to close at $10.75 per share.
Shares of Loral Space dropped $5.06 1/4, or 28 percent, to close at $13.
Loral Space was the most heavily traded issue on the New York Stock
Exchange, with 21 million shares changing hands.
(Copyright 1998)
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Publication Date: October 12, 1998
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