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Ukrainian Satan Crashed Together with Satellites
The RS-20B Satan transcontinental ballistic missile that took off from Baikonur spaceport Wed. night crashed on emergency engine cutoff. Its mission was to set into orbit 18 satellites, including BelKa spying satellite of Belarus and Baumanets student satellite of Russia. The spectator of the accident was Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who had specially arrived at Baikonur to see the launch.
The Satan missile took off Wednesday, 11:43 p.m. MSK. But the flight wasn’t long, as the engines of the first stage launcher cut off at the 74th second to the obvious astonishment of Russia’s Space Agency (Roskosmos) Chief Anatoly Perminov and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who specially arrived to see the launch. Lukashenko was the first to recover. The president promptly stepped into a car that was waiting for him and went to the hotel. Perminov evaded commenting.
Satan’s crash ended the Minsk hopes for getting BelKa, the first spying satellite of Energia-make. Russia’s Space Agency counted on BelKa as well. And not only on it, another hope was the student’s Baumanets-1 satellite that was expected to strengthen the satellite force of the Agency. Moreover, the crash meant the loss of 16 university mini-satellites of the United States, Italy and Colombia.
But the greatest blow hit Russia’s Defense Ministry, prompting it to speed up removing the Satans from duty. The crashed missile was made in Ukraine in 1970s and was on guard for 25 years. And last but not least, the failure of this extent proves Russia’s space industry is in crisis and may result in the management upheaval in the Agency, which will probably reach Perminov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 28, 2006
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