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To: djane who wrote (5562)	7/6/1999 10:36:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 29987

Wired. Russian Launch Site in Jeopardy [quote from G* official] updated 2:15 p.m. 6.Jul.99.PDT by Polly Sprenger 2:15 p.m. 6.Jul.99.PDT A Russian Proton rocket that launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome crashed on Monday, dropping rocket parts over Kazakhstan and possibly shutting down the base. The Kazakhstan government, which leases Baikonur to the Russian government, released a statement Tuesday saying it would be closing down the base pending a thorough investigation. Baikonur has become an increasingly popular choice as a launch site for Western companies. International Launch Services, a joint venture between Lockheed-Martin and several Russian companies, sells Baikonur-based launches in the United States. See also: Space Station Back on Track An ILS spokeswoman said that news reports about the shutdown of Baikonur are "not a credible source of worry at this point." "I think people have read into that statement more than is there," said Julie Andrews of ILS. "For us, the direct meaning we get out of that [statement] is that the Proton vehicle will not fly again until the cause of yesterday's failure is understood." The time difference in Russia prevented many Western companies from getting an official statement from the Russian Space Agency on Tuesday, said an official at Arianespace in France, but most are hoping the Kazakhstan government's statement was primarily intended to appease that country's residents. "We don't know exactly what's going on," said Claire Coulbeaux, director of communications for Arianespace, a satellite launch broker. "We still don't have any official report from the Russians." But there are tensions between the Russian Space Agency, which contracts for the launches, and the Kazakhstan government, said Alden Richards of Space Machine Advisors, which brokers insurance deals between insurers and satellite firms. The Kazakhstan government is under pressure from its citizens because of the environmental damage caused by rocket failures. But the base is also a huge source of revenue for the country, both from the Russians who lease it and the Western companies purchasing launches there. "The Kazakhs are between a rock and a hard place," said Dave Martin of the Siberia Wilderness Campaign, a nonprofit environmental group. "They would be interested in halting the use of the facility because it's got environmental problems, but on the other hand it's a very ready source of money." Martin said that Baikonur poses particular problems, because unlike US space facilities, the launches take place over land, not water. "You've got large pieces of metal falling from the sky. These rockets use extremely toxic fuels, that are very carcinogenic to most forms of plants and animals," Martin said. He also said that a citizens group in the Tomsk region of Siberia recently filed a civil lawsuit against the Kazakhstan government for never conducting an environmental impact review of the base before agreeing to lease Baikonur to the Russians. According to news reports, a chunk of the exploded rocket dropped into the courtyard of a private house Monday, although much of the debris fell in unpopulated areas. The prospect of losing revenue from Western launches may encourage the Kazakhstan government and their Russian partners to conduct a speedy investigation. "From everything I've seen, the Russian government is motivated to do a thorough and timely investigation," said Megan Fitzgerald, vice president of launch activities for Globalstar, which launched three rockets from Baikonur earlier this year. "Proton is a commercial vehicle, and a good source of income for them." Richards said that the Kazakhs may not make good on their statement that they will close the base temporarily. "Nobody really suspects that they are going to shut down this entire money-making machine that they have," Richards said. "It's political. These [statements] have a way of disappearing into the ether." Copyright © 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.