RE: [amsat-bb] BIG splash by astra-1k

["Scott Elliott" <scott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This story reminds me of a song,

Tom petty and the heart breakers - learning to fly :).

Oh well, funny story anyways, the ceo of astra must be very happy at
this point.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org [mailto:owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org] On
Behalf Of jim hertel
Sent: 10 December 2002 14:46
To: AMSAT
Subject: [amsat-bb] BIG splash by astra-1k


The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 10, 2002; 4:03 AM MOSCOW –– The world's largest
communications satellite was sent plunging into the Pacific Ocean
Tuesday two weeks after a Russian booster rocket failed to put it into
the correct orbit, Russia's space forces said.

European mission control used the Astra-1K's engines to push it back
into the earth's atmosphere and plunge it into the southern Pacific
Ocean, said space forces spokesman Vyacheslav Davidyenko.

The French made Astra-1K was rendered useless following its Nov. 26
launch on a Russian proton rocket, when a Russian made booster unit
failed to push the satellite into its intended orbit.

Its owners later established partial control over the satellite but said
it would never be able to fulfill its main mission of handling signals
for radio, television, mobile telephones and the Internet.

The failure marked another setback for Russia's satellite launching
program, which Moscow sees as a potential cash cow for its depressed
space industry. It followed the Oct. 15 explosion of a Russian Soyuz-U
rocket, also carrying a satellite, half a minute after liftoff.

The Astra-1K, manufactured by France's Allocate Space corporation for
Society European Des Satellites of Luxembourg, weighed nearly six tons
and was the largest communications satellite ever built.

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