The launch schedule of the International Space Station Zvezda service module is threatened again following a Russian Proton K launcher failure on 27 October. The booster, which was carrying the domestic Express A-1 communications satellite, was the second Proton launch failure from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome in four months.
The Kazakh Government immediately responded with a ban on Proton launches from Baikonur.
The failure is being attributed to the second stage engines, which malfunctioned 210s into the flight. The vehicle crashed in the same area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, in which debris fell from the 5 July failure. That incident also resulted in a temporary ban on Russian launches from Baikonur.
The July failure, causing the loss of a Raduga satellite, was due to faulty welding in one of the second stage engine's turbopumps. Since then there have been two successful Proton flights.
A Garuda 1 satellite was to have been launched by a Proton booster on 16 November, followed by a Eutelsat Sesat spacecraft.
Source: Flight International
