Mar 14 2008
From The Space Library
A Russian Proton-M rocket launched an American AMC-14 communications satellite at 02:18 (MST), from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but failed to bring it into correct orbit. The Breeze-M booster on the rocket failed 10 minutes after launch, leaving the satellite 8,000 kilometers (4,971 miles) below geostationary orbit. SES Americom owned the satellite, and Lockheed Martin had built it. The failed satellite had featured a new telecommunications technology that allowed changes in coverage while the satellite was in orbit. The satellite’s design would have enabled it to achieve a higher altitude using its own engine, although this would use up the satellite’s fuel supply and significantly shorten its lifespan.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 653, 1 April 2008, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx653.html (accessed 13 January 2011); Agence France-Presse, “Russian Rocket Fails To Take US Satellite into Planned Orbit,” 14 March 2008.
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