ASTRA 2E
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Dazzling Proton-M Successfully Delivers Sirius FM-6 Digital Radio Satellite to Orbit
A giant Proton-M booster lit up the darkened skies of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, tonight, successfully delivering the long-delayed Sirius FM-6 digital radio satellite toward orbit. Liftoff of the mission took place from Pad 39 at the cosmodrome’s Site 200 launch zone at 12:08 a.m. local time Saturday, 26 October (2:08 p.m. EDT Friday, 25 October). Destined to […] More
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Proton-M Launch With Sirius FM-6 Satellite Delayed Until 25/26 October
Following considerable speculation from several media outlets, International Launch Services (ILS) has formally announced that its next Proton-M mission will take place no earlier than the night of 25/26 October. In a brief notice released on its website this afternoon (Monday), the joint U.S.-Russian company which operates all Proton flights out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome […] More
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in AmericaSpace, Space, Ben Evans, ATV, VV02, Alphasat, EUTELSAT, EUTELSAT 25B
Processing Begins in French Guiana for Mid-December Ariane 5 Mission
It has been a busy year for Arianespace—the French-led launch services organization, which operates the Vega, Soyuz, and Ariane 5 vehicles from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana—and the 2013 flight schedule shows no sign of slowing down, with a planned mission in mid-December to loft a pair of communications satellites into geostationary […] More
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Dazzling Proton-M Returns to Flight With Astra 2E Communications Satellite
Eighty-nine days after a Khrunichev-built Proton-M booster wobbled, overturned, burst into flames, and crashed in a fireball on the desolate steppe of Kazakhstan, Russia and International Launch Services (ILS) have successfully returned the venerable rocket to flight with a spectacular nighttime mission to insert the Astra 2E communications satellite into a 22,300-mile geosynchronous orbit. Liftoff of […] More
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Proton-M Poised for Return to Flight Mission Sunday Night
Less than three months after the spectacular—though catastrophic—loss of a Proton-M booster in July, International Launch Services (ILS) is primed to return the venerable vehicle to flight. Liftoff of the three-stage Proton and its troubled Briz-M upper stage from Pad 39 at Site 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 3:38 a.m. […] More
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Proton Launch Failure Update: Culprit Found
It appears a likely culprit of the July 1 Proton-M launch failure has been discovered. In the first English-language report, Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb, relates that investigators combing through wreckage from the crash discovered that the angular velocity sensors known as DUS were installed upside down. More
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Update on Proton-M Launch Failure Fall-out
In the days since the spectacular failure of a Proton-M rocket seconds after its July 1 launch, a few more details have surfaced to shed a little light on the event. So far, most sources are being reported as anonymous and no information has been made public by the official investigation. More
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Repercussions of Proton-M’s Fiery Launch Failure
At 8:38 a.m. local time on July 2, a three-stage Proton-M with Block DM-03 upper stage took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome’s launch pad 24 at launch complex 81 carrying three GLONASS-M navigation satellites. Less than a minute later, the rocket and its cargo was back on the ground in a ball of fire and billows […] More