A rocket burst into flames a few seconds after it was launched Tuesday morning at Russia’s Baikonur spaceport, according to Russian media.
The rocket, Proton-M, was on its way to launch three navigation satellites into orbit. It was built with parts from China, which stirred up comments about the reliability of space equipment made in China.
“Russia is currently unable to create equipment that can work in space for a long time. We buy it from China, where they cannot make such equipment either,” journalist Vladimir Gubarev told Pravda, a Russian state mouthpiece.
“We cannot make satellites without spare parts from the West or from China. That’s what the danger is about. Of course there will be such accidents,” he added.
Proton-M was airborne for 17 seconds before its engines died and it started falling apart in midair. The rocket went up in flames and crashed to the ground after flying for half a minute.
When it crashed, it formed a 200-meter crater.
“The explosion of Proton, I believe, is a vivid picture, a symbol of what is happening now to our science,” Gubarev told Pravda.
The spaceport is postponing other launches in order to clean up the rocket fuel contamination from the crash. Specialists are still evaluating how much contamination there is.
