18:57 24/08/2011
MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti)
The wreckage (click title to entry - thank you) of the Russian Progress M-12M space freighter which sent a breakdown report while separating from the carrier rocket on Wednesday, fell in South Siberia's Altai Republic, a source in the region's law enforcement structures said.
"At 5:25 p.m. Moscow time [13:25 GMT] we received information about falling wreckage from the M-12M space freighter," the source said.
The head of the South Siberian republic's Choya District, where the wreckage presumably fell, said a powerful blast was heard within a 100-km radius....
It is highly unusual for a Russian spacecraft to fail. Someone in the USA Defense Department having a "FIT" over the end of the Shuttle Program?Lousy thing to think?
No, not really. Not when one considers such problems with sovereign nations a potential for war.
And especially when a similar incident occurred in China last week!
The failure of a Chinese Long March (click here) rocket last week will not affect the country's plans to launch a 19,000-pound space station module later this year, a senior Chinese space official told state media.
The mishap occurred Thursday (Aug. 18) during the launch of an experimental Shijian 11 satellite aboard a 138-foot-tall Long March 2C rocket. It was the first problem during a Chinese space launch since 2008, when an Indonesian communications satellite was placed in an incorrect orbit.
God help them if it is USA interference in these sovereign programs.
