Spaceflight Now: Breaking News

Proton failure report released
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: Jan. 9, 2000

  Proton
A Proton rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo: ILS
 
The official report into the failure of a Proton rocket in October blames the accident on poor workmanship more than six years ago that left debris inside one of the rocket's second stage engines.

The completion of the failure investigation clears the way for Proton return-to-flight in February, with the launch of the ACeS/Garuda 1 commercial mission.

Proton's October 27, 1999, mission ended in disaster when its second stage failed about three minutes and 40 seconds after lift off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. It was the second Proton failure in less than four months. The rocket was carrying the Russian Government's Express 1A satellite.

An examination of the wreckage of the doomed rocket revealed a piece of fabric, plus metallic and sand particles that are believed to have triggered a turbopump fire which brought the rocket down. Debris inside an engine was also blamed for a July 5, 1999, Proton failure.

According to the official report into the accident, the second stage engines used on both failed missions were manufactured in 1992 or 1993 at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant during a period of poor workmanship.

A Proton rocket is to launch the next major element of the International Space Station later this year. The service module launch has been repeatedly delayed because of Russian funding problems and most recently because of the Proton failure.

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