by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
The Long Beach Harbor Commission has unanimously approved a two-year lease with SpaceX for Elon Musk’s company to use a marine terminal for the recovery of Falcon 9 first stages.
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MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The new production facilities of the Khrunichev Center (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) will make it possible to produce up to ten missiles of the Angara family per year. In two cities of Russia, large-scale preparations are underway for the start of the serial production of missiles of this family. More details about the strategy and principles of organizing production, delimiting areas of responsibility between sites, the near and medium-term prospects of the heavy and light version of Angara.
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MOSCOW (Kazakh Government PR) — On October 31, 2020, a working meeting was held in Moscow between the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bagdat Musin and the General Director of the state corporation for space activities Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin.
The parties discussed topical issues of Kazakh-Russian cooperation in the space sphere, including the further development of the Baikonur complex. Issues related to the Baiterek (Nazarbayev start) and Gagarin start projects were discussed.
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It’s been a long road, getting from there to here….
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
The Russian space program reached a milestone last week: for the first time in nearly a decade, it went a full 12 months — 365 days — without a single partial or complete launch failure.
On Oct. 11 the program passed the one-year anniversary of the Soyuz MS-10 in-flight abort that sent NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin on a wild ballistic ride. Neither one was injured; both later flew to the International Space Station.
The last time Russia went more than one year between launch failures was a 14-month stretch between March 14, 2008 and May 21, 2009.
The last calendar year in which the Russian space program had a clean sheet was in 2003. They have 76 days left in 2019 to equal that feat.
The table below shows the program’s 22 failures and six partial failure over the past 15 years.
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The Soviet & Russian space programs have traditionally had a high launch rate, which also resulted in a fair number of partial and complete failures. For the past 30 years, the program has experienced 61 incidents or an average of about two per year. The current string of annual failures stretches back to 2004.
The chart below chronicles the partial and complete failures experienced over the last three decades. (Note: Some of the incidents involve Zenit boosters produced by former Soviet factories in Ukraine. These rockets usually fly with Russian-produced upper stages. Dnepr was also a joint program with Ukraine.)
| SOVIET-RUSSIAN LAUNCH FAILURES, 1988 – 2018 | |||||
| NO. | DATE | LAUNCH VEHICLE | PAYLOAD(S) | RESULT | CAUSE |
| 1 | January 18, 1988 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2 | Gorizont 25L | Failure | Third stage failure due to disintegration of propellant feed line |
| 2 | February 17, 1988 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2 | Uragan #23, Uragan #24, Uragan #25 | Partial Failure | Blok D failure caused by ingestion of debris |
| 3 | July 09, 1988 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-4KS1 #10 | Failure | |
| 4 | July 27, 1988 | Soyuz-U | Resurs-F1 | Failure | First stage engine failure. |
| 5 | November 11, 1988 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-4KS1 #11 | Failure | |
| 6 | June 9, 1989 | Tsiklon-3 | Okean-O1 #4 | Failure | |
| 7 | April 3, 1990 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-4K2 #51 | Failure | |
| 8 | June 21, 1990 | Molniya-M (Blok-2BL) | Kosmos 2084 | Partial Failure | Placed in an incorrect orbit. Satellite did not communicate with ground |
| 9 | July 3, 1990 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-4K2 #53 | Failure | |
| 10. | August 9, 1990 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2 | Ekran-M 14L | Failure | Third stage lost thrust due to a cleaning rag inside propellant feed system |
| 11 | October 4, 1990 | Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 #8 | Failure | First stage engine failure five seconds after launch. |
| 12 | June 25, 1991 | Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 #26 | Failure | Second stage malfunction |
| 13 | August 30, 1991 | Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 #9 | Failure | Second stage explosion |
| 14 | February 5, 1992 | Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 #10 | Failure | Second stage failure |
| 15 | May 27, 1993 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2 | Gorizont 39L | Failure | Third stage failure |
| 16 | May 25, 1994 | Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D #69 | Failure | Software error prevented third stage separation |
| 17 | March 28, 1995 | Start | Gurwin 1, EKV, OSCAR 29 | Failure | Failed to orbit, crashed into the Sea of Okhotsk |
| 18 | October 6, 1995 | Kosmos-3M | Kosmos 2321 (Parus #84) | Partial Failure | Second stage malfunction, placed in useless orbit |
| 19 | February 19, 1996 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2 | Raduga 33 | Partial Failure | Blok-DM-2 upper stage failed to restart to circularize orbit |
| 20 | May 14, 1996 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-1KFT #18 | Failure | Payload fairing disintegrated in flight |
| 21 | June 20, 1996 | Soyuz-U | Yantar-4K2 #76 | Failure | Payload fairing disintegrated in flight |
| 22 | November 16, 1996 | Proton-K Blok-D-2 | Mars ’96 | Partial Failure | Probe re-entered atmosphere after fourth stage failure |
| 23 | May 20, 1997 | Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 #19 | Failure | First stage failure |
| 24 | December 24, 1997 | Proton-K Blok-DM3 | AsiaSat 3 | Partial Failure | Fourth stage malfunction prevented satellite from reaching geosynchronous orbit; salvaged with lunar flyby |
| 25 | June 15, 1998 | Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 #119, Strela-3 #120, Strela-3 #121, Strela-3 #122, Strela-3 #123, Strela-3 #124 | Partial Failure | Third stage malfunction left satellites in unintended elliptical orbit |
| 26 | September 09, 1998 | Zenit-2 | Globalstar 5, Globalstar 7, Globalstar 9, Globalstar 10, Globalstar 11, Globalstar 12, Globalstar 13, Globalstar 16, Globalstar 17, Globalstar 18, Globalstar 20, Globalstar 21 | Failure | Second stage shut down after guidance system failed |
| 27 | July 05, 1999 | Proton-K Briz-M | Raduga (34) (Gran 45L) | Failure | Second stage failure |
| 28 | October 27, 1999 | Proton-K Blok-DM-2M | Ekspress-A 1 | Failure | Second stage failure |
| 29 | December 24, 1999 | Rokot-K | RVSN 40 | Failure | Stage-separation fired before launch |
| 30 | November 20, 2000 | Kosmos-3M | QuickBird 1 (QB 1) | Failure | Second stage failed to ignite |
| 31 | December 27, 2000 | Tsiklon-3 | Gonets 7, Gonets 8, Gonets 9, Strela-3 #125, Strela-3 #126, Strela-3 #127 | Failure | Third stage failure |
| 32 | October 15, 2002 | Soyuz-U | Foton-M 1 | Failure | First stage exploded seconds after launch |
| 33 | November 25, 2002 | Proton-K Blok-DM3 | Astra 1K | Failure | Blok-DM3 left satellite in unusable orbit; spacecraft de-orbited 15 days after launch |
| 34 | Dec. 24, 2004 | Tsiklon-3 | Sich 1M, Micron 1 | Partial Failure | Booster failed to circularize orbit |
| 35 | June 21, 2005 | Molniya-M Blok-ML | Molniya-3K | Failure | Third stage failure |
| 36 | June 21, 2005 | Volna-O | Cosmos 1 | Failure | Cosmos Studios/The Planetary Society solar sail satellite failed to separate from booster third stage |
| 37 | August 10, 2005 | Rokot Briz-KM | Cryosat | Failure | Second stage failure; crashed in Arctic Ocean north of Greenland |
| 38 | February 28, 2006 | Proton-M Briz-M | Arabsat 4A (Badr 1) | Failure | Failed to reach usable orbit; de-orbited 24 days after launch |
| 39 | July 26, 2006 | Dnepr | BelKa 1, Baumanets 1, Unisat 4, PicPot, CP 1, CP 2, HAUSAT 1, ICECube 1, ICECube 2, ION, KUTESat-Pathfinder, Mea Huaka’i, MEROPE, Ncube 1, Rincon 1, SACRED SEEDS, AeroCube 1 | Failure | Engine failure |
| 40 | Sept. 5, 2007 | Proton-M/Briz-M | JCSat 11 | Failure | Second stage failure; booster and payload crashed in Kazakhstan |
| 41 | March 14, 2008 | Proton-M/Briz-M | AMC 14 | Partial Failure | Briz-M upper stage shut down 2 minutes early. Owner SES Americom declared satellite a complete loss. AMC 14 sold to US Department of Defense which manuevered into geosynchronous orbit using on-board thrusters. |
| 42 | May 21, 2009 | Soyuz-2.1a/ Fregat | Meridian 2 | Failure | Second stage shut down early, Fregat upper stage ran out of fuel trying to compensate. Satellite left in useless orbit, declared a loss by Russian military. |
| 43 | Dec. 5, 2010 | Proton-M/ Blok-DM-3 | Uragan-M #739, Uragan-M #740, Uragan-M #741 | Failure | Rocket failed to reach orbital velocity after upper stage overfilled with propellant. |
| 44 | Feb. 1, 2011 | Rokot/Briz-KM | Geo-IK-2 No. 11 | Failure | Upper stage malfunction. |
| 45 | Aug. 17, 2011 | Proton-M/ Briz-M | Ekspress AM4 | Failure | Briz-M upper stage suffered failure of attitude control. |
| 46 | Aug. 24, 2011 | Soyuz-U | Progress M-12 | Failure | Third stage failure due to turbo-pump duct blockage. |
| 47 | Nov. 8, 2011 | Zenit-2SB/ Fregat | Phobos-Grunt Yinghuo-1 | Failure | Zenit placed Phobos-Grunt in proper orbit. Spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit after Fregat failed to fire. |
| 48 | Dec. 23, 2011 | Soyuz-2.1b/ Fregat | Meridian 5 | Failure | Third stage failure. |
| 49 | Aug. 6, 2012 | Proton-M/ Briz-M | Telkom-3, Ekspress MD2 | Failure | Briz-M upper stage failed 7 seconds into its third burn. |
| 50 | Dec. 8, 2012 | Proton-M/ Briz-M | Yamal-402 | Partial Failure | Briz-M upper stage shut down 4 minutes earlier than planned on fourth burn. Spacecraft reached intended orbit under own power. |
| 51 | Jan. 15, 2013 | Rokot/Briz-KM | Kosmos 2482, Kosmos 2483, Kosmos 2484 | Partial Failure | Upper stage failed near time of spacecraft separation; one satellite destroyed. |
| 52 | Feb. 1, 2013 | Zenit-3SL (Sea Launch) | Intelsat 27 | Failure | First stage failure. |
| 53 | July 2, 2013 | Proton-M/DM-03 | Uragan-M #748, Uragan-M #749, Uragan-M #750 | Failure | First stage failure. |
| 54 | May 15, 2014 | Proton-M/Briz-M | Ekspress AM4R | Failure | Proton third stage vernier engine failure due to turbo-pump leak. |
| 55 | Aug. 14, 2014 | Soyuz-STB/ Fregat | Galileo FOC-1, Galileo FOC-2 | Partial Failure | Satellites placed in wrong orbits due to freezing of hydrazine in Fregat upper stage. Satellites made operational as part of Europe’s Galileo navigation constellation. |
| 56 | April 28, 2015 | Soyuz-2.1a | Progress 59P | Failure | Third stage failure left Progress in uncontrollable tumble. |
| 57 | May 16, 2015 | Proton/Briz-M | MexSat-1 | Failure | Third stage failure anomaly. |
| 58 | December 5, 2015 | Soyuz-2.1v/ Volga | Kanopus ST KYuA 1 | Partial Failure | Primary payload Kanopus ST remained attached to upper stage, later burned up in atmosphere. Secondary payload KYuA 1 deployed successfully. |
| 59 | December 1, 2016 | Soyuz U | Progress MS-04 | Failure | Third stage failure. Progress supply ship burned up in atmosphere. |
| 60 | November 28, 2017 | Soyuz 2-1b | Meteor-M 2-1, 18 CubeSats | Failure | Fregat upper stage failure. |
| 61 | October 11, 2018 | Soyuz FG | Soyuz MS-10 | Failure | Launch anomaly resulted in emergency landing for two-member crew |
by Douglas Messier
Managing Edior
Over the past few years, I’ve been keeping track of Russia’s annual launch failures. For reasons I can’t quite recall, the table I’ve used only went back to 2009.
Recently, I saw a graphic on a Russian website about launch failures, and I realized I hadn’t gone back far enough. So, I dug into the records of the last 30 years from 1988 through 2017, which covers Russia and the last four years of the Soviet Union.
And holy crap! There were a helluva lot of them. Launch failures are not a bug in the system, they’re a feature.
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
SpaceX had a banner year in 2017, launching a record 18 times and helping to propel the United States to the top of the global launch table with a perfect 29-0 record. The U.S. total made up 32.2 percent of 90 orbital launches worldwide, which was an increase over the 85 flights conducted in 2016.
The 29 American launches were a leap of seven over the 22 flights conducted the previous year. This is the highest number of American orbital launches since the 31 flights undertaken in 1999. However, that year the nation’s launch providers suffered four failures whereas they were perfect in 2017.
UPDATE: TASS reports that controllers have re-established contact with the spacecraft and are receiving telemetry. The report offers no further details at this time.
Russian officials say they have lost contact with the Angosat-1 communications satellite, which was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday aboard a Zenit 2SB booster.
“Contact has temporarily been lost,” the source told AFP, adding specialists were now looking into the matter.
The source said officials had stopped receiving “telemetry data” but called it a “rather common situation” and expressed the hope that contact would be re-established.
The reason for the loss of contact was not immediately clear.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos said the Zenit booster performed as planned, deploying Angola’s first communications satellite into its intended orbit. Contact was lost after the spacecraft separated from the booster’s upper stage.
The spacecraft is a joint $280 million project between Angola and Russia that was funded with credit from Russian banks. The spacecraft was built by Russia’s RSC Energia. Fifty Angolans were trained to operate and maintain Angosat-1 from a control center outside Luanda.
Heads up, SoCal!
SpaceX is set to close out the year with a night launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Friday. The The Falcon 9 booster with 10 Iridium Next communications satellite is set to take off at 5:27 p.m. PST. It will be the company’s 18th launch attempt of the year and the 29th for U.S. launch providers.
The SpaceX mission is one of six launches set for the rest of the rest of the year (see list below). If all flights go forward in the next 10 days, there will be a total of 91 orbital launches worldwide in 2017.
Thank you to Spaceflightnow.com for this update list of launches.
December 22/23
Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9
Payloads: Iridium Next 31-40 communications satellites
Launch Time: 0127:23 GMT on 23rd (8:27:23 p.m. EST; 5:27:23 p.m. PST on 22nd)
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
SpaceX will not attempt to recover the Falcon 9 first stage on this flight.
Launch Vehicle: H-2A
Payloads: GCOM-C & SLATS environmental satellites
Launch Tme: 0126:22-0148:22 GMT on 23rd (8:26:22-8:48:22 p.m. EST on 22nd)
Launch Site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
Launch Vehicle: Long March 2D
Payload: Unidentified military satellite
Launch Time: Approx. 0400 GMT on 23rd (11:00 p.m. EST on 22nd)
Launch Site: Jiuquan, China
Dec. 26
Launch Vehicle: Zenit 3F
Payload: AngoSat communications satellite
Launch Time: 1900 GMT (2:00 p.m. EST)
Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Dec. 27/28
Launch Vehicle: SS-520-5
Payload: TRICOM 1R communications & imaging CubeSat
Launch Window: 0330-0515 GMT on 28th (10:30 p.m.-12:15 a.m. EST on 27th/28th)
Launch Site: Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
Second attempt to launch the SS-520 microsat booster after the first failed in January.
TBD
Launch Vehicle: March 2D
Payloads: Superview 1-03 and 04 Earth observation satellites
Launch Time: TBD
Launch Site: Taiyuan, China
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
For the second year in a row, Russia came tantalizingly close to breaking a string of launch failures extending back nearly a decade.
In three days, the nation’s space program would have gone 12 months without botching a launch. Thirty days after that, an entire calendar year would have passed without a full or partial launch failure. Last year, Russia came within four days and 30 days of those marks, respectively.
Sea Launch always pinned their failures on one technical issue or another. This exclusive photo shows the real cause.
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It seems you can’t keep a mediocre rocket down.
Sea Launch is coming back. After weathering a bankruptcy and a period of involuntary hibernation, new owners are bringing the troubled launch provider back to life for the third time.
“Work is underway to end the conservation of the complex and to restore launch activities with the use of Zenit carrier rockets in the current configuration until 2023,” S7 told Sputnik International.
Since making its first launch in 1999, Sea Launch has compiled a record of 32 successes, 3 failures and 1 partial failure. The company’s most recent flight was conducted on May 26, 2014.
DNIPROPETROVSK, Ukraine (Yuzhmash PR) — On April 28 this year, the contract was signed between Yuzhmash and S7 Sea Launch Limited on the production and supply of Zenit-series launch vehicles.
In general, the contract provides for the production of 12 launch vehicles for use in the Sea Launch and Land Launch programs for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes in the framework of international space projects.
Now in production there are 2 rockets of modifications of Zenit-3SL and Zenit-3SLB.
The signing of this contract made a big step in overcoming the deep crisis in which Yuzhmash stayed since 2013 and which resulted from a massive decline in production volumes.
Persistent three-year work of the company’s specialists brought results. Today Yuzhmash portfolio of orders for the next few years more than 350 mln. US dollars.
Yuzhmash expresses its deep gratitude to the legislative and executive branches of power for providing the unprecedented, as for our enterprise, regulatory and financial support. Without this support, it was impossible to resume production and overcome the crisis.
Yuzhmash’s withdrawal into stable operation regime will create the appropriate conditions for the corporatization of the enterprise and the search for a strategic investor. The implementation of these measures, in turn, is a prerequisite for achieving the main medium-term goal of Yuzhmash, which is to ensure the full involvement of the enterprise in international cooperation in the production of rocket and space technology.
The chairman of Ukraine’s space agency, Yuri Radchenko. said last week his nation is seeking membership in the European Space Agency (ESA).
“Today, we held talks with the Head of the European Space Agency on this matter,” he explained. “The strategy and the tactics on the matter have been worked out. It is required to fulfill a number of conditions to become a member of the European Space Agency.”
He said the membership could be secured within “a reasonable” timeframe.
While Russia retired its Soyuz-U rocket with one final flight on Wednesday after 44 years and 787 launches, a couple of other programs — Sea Launch and tourists trips around the moon — have resurfaced.
