Russian rocket sea launch fails

MOSCOW - A Russian rocket carrying a US telecommunications satellite plunged into the Pacific Ocean on Friday only moments after being launched from a mobile sea platform in Moscow’s latest space failure. The rocket may have veered off course from the moment of take-off because of heavy waves battering the former northern seas oil platform, initial reports said. The Intelsat-27’s loss means the giant Boeing aerospace corporation would for now be unable to fit the final piece of a constellation mean to provide TV feeds across Europe and the United States.  “There was an accident during the Zenit rocket launch,” a source at the Energia corporation that makes the Zenit-3SL rocket used to lift up Intelsat satellites told AFP.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt