Soviet Rocket Blows Up Just After Liftoff
The Soviet Union’s most advanced booster, carrying what was believed to be a Soviet spy satellite, exploded seconds after liftoff last week, Tass news agency said today.
The blast nearly destroyed the launch pad and may complicate Soviet efforts to sell space hardware to the West, analysts said.
Tass said the booster “broke up” at the Baikonur spaceport in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan last Thursday.
Tass said that no one was hurt and that a commission was investigating the accident. The three-sentence dispatch did not identify the payload or give any other details, including why the accident was not reported sooner.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
