''The Soyuz-M medium-class launch vehicle was successfully launched from Plesetsk,'' the press-service of Russia's Space Forces told RIA Novosti, immediately after it left the ground.
However, 29 seconds after liftoff contact with the rocket was lost and within seconds it had exploded in midair. Witnesses claimed that during blast-off the rocket booster had been emitting dark exhaust fumes. As it exploded the rocket fell into a forest approximately 1 km from the launch pad, triggering a fire that was soon extinguished.
Initial reports stated that nobody had suffered in the accident. Soon afterwards, though, Russian RTR channel quoted the deputy chief of the Main Directorate for Civil Defence and Emergency Situations of the Archangel Region Oleg Bystrov that resulting from the abortive launch 1 soldier was killed and 8 others injured and taken to hospital. The Defence Ministry refused to confirm the report.
The Photon-M satellite was due to operate a space laboratory for carrying out experiments involving the production of medical and biological substances for Russia, the European Space Agency, the US, Canada, Indonesia and Japan. The satellite, built in the central Russian city of Samara, was supposed to operate in orbit for 15 days, sending information to reception stations in Russia and Sweden, with a capsule returning to a soft landing on earth, Russia’s ITAR-TASS reported.
The Soyuz booster, used for manned and unmanned flights into orbit, is one of the oldest Russian space vehicles. It traces its origins to the rocket which sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union, into space in 1961. It has an excellent success rate. Mission control officials claimed the rocket had not had an accident for 11 years.
''Serious conclusions will have to be made as a modified version of this same rocket is due to take a group of cosmonauts to the ISS shortly,'' an official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
The area surrounding Plesetsk has been sealed off by the military and a special governmental commission has been set up to establish the cause of the ''technical malfunction'', a Rosaviakosmos official told Gazeta.Ru.
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