A rocket that is carrying a Mexican satellite apparently has malfunctioned and crashed into Siberia just soon after its launch today, Saturday, May 16, that adds to the series of the latest rocket space failures for Russia.

The Proton-M carrier rocket is carrying the MexSat-1 communications satellite which experienced a problem just moments after launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Central Asia.

Like Us on Facebook

However, the main cause of the problem is not yet determined as the satellite was not placed into lower Earth orbit. According to a Russian local news agency, a space official just confirmed that this type of rocket launch is now suspended. 

A Roscosmos official confirmed that there was an emergency engine shutdown of the third stage of the rocket.

A space official also warned that the final stage of the Proton rocket still contains a few tons of highly toxic rocket propellant or fuel called heptyl as it crashed down the region of Chita in Siberia. 

The Russian Proton rocket was first introduced during the 1960s until the 1970s that also went through numerous test flight failures, which is also under the UR-500 code.

The rocket was orginally developed as a ballistic missile that can cross continents, carrying a nuclear warhead that can supposedly target the Soviet Union's enemy at the time during the Cold War. To date, the rocket was never deployed as a weapon.

During the history of space exploration, Russia has presented itself as a pioneer in the space race where the Soviets placed the first satellite in space and eventually the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. However, the road to becoming ahead of the race cost many accidents that also tarnished the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

Just a few weeks ago, Russia abandoned all hope for its US $51 million dollar mission to send a cargo resupply ship to the International Space Station when they lost all communications to the unamanned Progress M-27M that was carrying 3 tons of food and supplies that never made it to docking at the station.

Apart from this, in 2013, a Proton carrier rocket that was transporting three navigation satellites worth US $200 million crashed just moments after lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

TagsProton M Rocket, Proton Rocket Siberia, Russia, roscosmos, russian rocket, Russian Proton rocket crash