Dalnijrus
01-09-2007, 18:40
TEMRYJUK, Adygea (AP) -- The brand-new Adygean space program, based at the Temryjuk Rocket Centre on the Taman Peninsula, met with a disheartening loss this Friday.
The space program, which received wide support from Adygea's Parliament and general citizenry, now seems to have faltered since an accident, in which the new Vselennaja M-6 rocket of domestic design, the first attempt at a launch vehicle, exploded just seconds after taking off. The rocket was carrying the first Adygean communications satellite.
"We had ... no indication that this was going to happen," Adygean Minister of Transportation Sasha Nebavsky said in a press release after the accident. The Ministry of Transportation has been assigned the task of managing the space program. "We are looking into every possible reason for the explosion at this time, and I have personally suspended any further launches until we identify the problem and fix it."
The failed launch rained down several tons of metal and burning fuel onto the complex, but no one was hurt, Adygean officials say. The surrounding town was only lightly affected.
American NASA scientists say that any number of things could have happened to the rocket, but loosely guess that the accident was the result of a fuel breach. "We're not sure," cautions scientist Brian O'Malley. "But we're fairly sure that's what happened."
It is uncertain what effect this will have on future launches, which have been planned well into the next year.
[A video is included in the CNN story, showing a clip from an Adygean news programme. A deep-voiced man is narrating the event in Adyghe; there are Russian subtitles. Shown is the Taman Peninsula, the M-6 rocket standing tall above the buildings of the port city of Temryjuk, from the perspective of what is presumably a news helicopter, circling around it. The camera changes position to an on-site tower camera, with a time and date stamp in red. The camera shows the rocket lifting off, while a voice in the background counts down from ten in the Adyghe language. Several cables drop from the rocket as it climbs steadily, the plume from the engines eventually passing the camera.
The view switches again to another ground camera, this one aimed at the rocket as it climbs above the tower. As it clears the scaffolding, it continues for a handful of seconds, and then the engines explode into a shower of fire. The top of the rocket is lost to view as the bits of the rocket explode out and up. The view switches from one ground camera to another, showing the burning debris falling onto the complex. Finally, the view changes to another camera, some distance away, showing the white smoke trails that the debris created as it fell. Grey smoke rises from one end of the compound. The video ends.]
The space program, which received wide support from Adygea's Parliament and general citizenry, now seems to have faltered since an accident, in which the new Vselennaja M-6 rocket of domestic design, the first attempt at a launch vehicle, exploded just seconds after taking off. The rocket was carrying the first Adygean communications satellite.
"We had ... no indication that this was going to happen," Adygean Minister of Transportation Sasha Nebavsky said in a press release after the accident. The Ministry of Transportation has been assigned the task of managing the space program. "We are looking into every possible reason for the explosion at this time, and I have personally suspended any further launches until we identify the problem and fix it."
The failed launch rained down several tons of metal and burning fuel onto the complex, but no one was hurt, Adygean officials say. The surrounding town was only lightly affected.
American NASA scientists say that any number of things could have happened to the rocket, but loosely guess that the accident was the result of a fuel breach. "We're not sure," cautions scientist Brian O'Malley. "But we're fairly sure that's what happened."
It is uncertain what effect this will have on future launches, which have been planned well into the next year.
[A video is included in the CNN story, showing a clip from an Adygean news programme. A deep-voiced man is narrating the event in Adyghe; there are Russian subtitles. Shown is the Taman Peninsula, the M-6 rocket standing tall above the buildings of the port city of Temryjuk, from the perspective of what is presumably a news helicopter, circling around it. The camera changes position to an on-site tower camera, with a time and date stamp in red. The camera shows the rocket lifting off, while a voice in the background counts down from ten in the Adyghe language. Several cables drop from the rocket as it climbs steadily, the plume from the engines eventually passing the camera.
The view switches again to another ground camera, this one aimed at the rocket as it climbs above the tower. As it clears the scaffolding, it continues for a handful of seconds, and then the engines explode into a shower of fire. The top of the rocket is lost to view as the bits of the rocket explode out and up. The view switches from one ground camera to another, showing the burning debris falling onto the complex. Finally, the view changes to another camera, some distance away, showing the white smoke trails that the debris created as it fell. Grey smoke rises from one end of the compound. The video ends.]