Russian space program bedeviled by problems
Sea Launch, the U.S.-Russian-Ukrainian-Norwegian consortium using a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit-3SL rockets, has announced that its planned May 21 launch will be postponed indefinitely. This minor setback highlights major problems plaguing the Russian space program. The launch was postponed because a similar rocket that lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in late April failed to place an Israeli satellite into the intended 36,000-km geostationary orbit. The customer will now have to use the satellite’s precious fuel reserve in order to attain the required orbit. Sea Launch executives have therefore decided to suspend operations pending an investigation of the abortive Baikonur launch.
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