Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has fired two top space officials and reprimanded the space agency chief. The move came after an inquiry into the failed launch of a rocket with communications satellites showed it was lost owing to a fuel miscalculation. The satellites were to have been part of a satellite-navigation system known as Glonass, a Russian rival to the American GPS network. They were disposed of after the rocket came down in the Pacific Ocean. Read more
Fuel overload has been singled out as the prime reason for Sunday's failed launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket that was supposed to deliver satellites for the completion of Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation system. Read more
Russia's space agency is investigating the failed launch of three navigational satellites, the agency reported Sunday. The satellites were meant to complete the Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system. But they went into a "non-targeted orbit" following their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday afternoon, the Federal Space Agency reported. Read more
Russian satellites fail to enter orbit after launch
Three Russian satellites have failed to enter orbit after they were launched on a rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian aerospace experts said the satellites and the upper stage rocket carrying them probably fell into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. Officials said the satellites went off course after separating with a booster rocket from the main launch rocket. Read more
A Russia Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M navigation satellites successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 13:25 Moscow time. However a rocket malfunction resulted in the satellites failing to reach the designated orbits and crashed into the Pacific Ocean not far from Hawaii.