August 6, 2013
Categories: Roscosmos, Russia

Launches of light-class Rokot carrier rockets will resume in the first half of September following a nine-month suspension due to attempts to fix a glitch in the rocket’s booster, Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said.

The glitch was detected during a Rokot launch in January when the rocket’s Briz-KM booster failed to deliver three military satellites into their designated orbits. As a result, one of the satellites was lost.

Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin told reporters Monday that the glitch had been fixed and the next launch of a Rokot vehicle carrying Gonets low-orbit telecoms satellites will be conducted in early September.

Russia’s space program suffered a series of setbacks in the past few years. In a most recent incident, a Proton-M rocket carrying three satellites for the Glonass positioning system, Russia’s answer to GPS, crashed in a ball of flames, seconds after blasting off from Russia’s Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on July 2.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin heavily criticized Russia’s space industry on Monday, lambasting technical incompetence and calling for structural reform across the whole sector during a meeting of a commission appointed to investigate the Proton launch failure.

In July, Russia’s Audit Chamber said the Federal Space Program was ineffective, and blighted by poor management and use of funds for space projects.

More from this category:
March 14, 2020

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on March 12, 2020, completed the complex examination of the main and backup crews of the ISS-63. The main…

full story
September 11, 2014

On September 11, at 06;23, Moscow time, descent module of Soyuz TMA-12M manned spacecraft  successfully landed to the south east of Jezqazğan town. The landing…

full story
March 24, 2021

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, joint teams of Roscosmos organizations began working on the second launch day schedule. The day before,…

full story
August 25, 2020

 Isolation of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) in the Russian segment has been extended for a day, the place of the air…

full story
June 30, 2014

German astronaut Alexander Gerst shaved-off his USA colleagues  Gregory Wiseman and Stephen Swanson working with him onboard the International Space Station. The astronauts made a…

full story
July 2, 2013

No comments. The investigation is under way. Video:

full story
December 2, 2014

Testings of new Russian ecologically friendly booster of Angara series will be finished at Plesetsk spaceport in 2020, – Russian Aerospace Defence Troops commander Lieutenant…

full story
February 21, 2017

Progress MS-05 cargo vehicle, the first one after Progres MS-04 accident will deliver to the ISS apples, oranges, grapefruits, porridge (4 variants) and some sauces…

full story