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
|
|
Senate committee advances Isaacman nomination to lead NASA
Posted: Sun, May 4 10:23 AM ET (1423 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, May 4
Moon RACER Team Activates High-Fidelity Simulator to Advance LTV Development and Astronaut Training
Intuitive Machines — 10:49 am ET (1449 GMT) Amanda Hendrix takes PSI’s helm
PSI — 10:47 am ET (1447 GMT) USSF reinforces resilience of National missile warning architecture through SBIRS Survivable Endurable Evolution Operation Acceptance
US Space Force — 10:43 am ET (1443 GMT) Cyber Expo highlights latest developments in ‘Fifth Domain of Warfare’
US Space Force — 10:42 am ET (1442 GMT) Space Test Experiments Platform 2.0 To Bolster USSF Spacecraft Procurement
US Space Force — 10:42 am ET (1442 GMT) |
