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Nov 28, 2017
Russia launched on Tuesday a second Soyuz rocket from its new Vostochny cosmodrome. But the rest of the mission did not go as planned.
The rocket - whose takeoff was broadcast live on television - took off as planned at 14:41 local (6:41 in Switzerland). (Photo: Roscosmos)
The Russian space agency announced Tuesday that it has lost contact with the Meteor weather satellite, launched a few hours earlier from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome, inaugurated in April 2016 in the Far East of the country.
"The contact with the spacecraft has not been established due to the fact that it has not reached the planned orbit," said Roskosmos in a statement, saying that the reasons for this failure were under way. 'analysis.
Gigantic cost
The rocket - whose takeoff was broadcast live on television - took off as planned at 14:41 local (6:41 in Switzerland). It carried, among other things, a Meteor weather satellite, as well as 18 payloads belonging to institutions or companies in Canada, the United States, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Norway. "All the initial stages of the rocket flight went as planned," the Russian space agency Roskosmos said in a statement.
METEOR-M №2-1 Satellite
The first take-off from the Vostochny base in April 2016, in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, was a first success for this gigantic cost-packed cosmodrome, intended to replace the legendary Baikonur base in Kazakhstan, which is supposed to mark the rebirth of a industry humiliated by several failures in recent years.
The third launch from this cosmodrome is scheduled for December 22nd.
Second Launch
Vostotchny, built on the site of a former Soviet missile base, is closer to the equator than the firing point of Plessetsk in northern Russia, a parameter that facilitates the setting in orbit.
Currently, he has a firing point for the Soyuz ships. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the Russian space program, said he wants to build a second firing point for the new Angara rockets, which should be ready in 2021.
The Russian space sector experienced a series of failures in 2015, including the loss of a Progress cargo ship to refuel the ISS in April and the failure of a Proton launcher to orbit a Mexican communications satellite. in May.
Related article:
ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz-2.1B Launch Vehicle With METEOR-M №2-1 Satellite Successfully Lifts Off fro Vostochny
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2017/11/roscosmos-soyuz-21b-launch-vehicle-with.html
Roscosmos Press Release: http://en.roscosmos.ru/20704/
Images, Text, Credits: AFP/ROSCOSMOS/Günter Space Page/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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