Medvedev demands names of guilty in booster rocket accident

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reported to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the details of the accident in which a Proton-M booster rocket crashed near the Baikonur cosmodrome, a spokeswoman said. Medvedev had ordered Rogozin to set up a government commission to find the cause of the accident and demanded a list of the guilty persons, including high-ranking Roskosmos officials, the premier's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said. Rogozin will also have to work out and present a list of measures to tighten control in aerospace with the view of preventing similar accidents in the future. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the accident. A Proton-M booster carrying three Glonass-M satellites blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 06:38, Moscow time on Tuesday. Immediately after the launch, it deviated from the trajectory and began to disintegrate in midair. It fell near the launch site and exploded. Roskosmos said the accident occurred in the 17th second of the flight because of emergency engine shutdown. An aerospace source said the accident had not been caused by a breakdown of the DM-03 accelerator unit. A heptyl cloud formed after the explosion. The launch pad and the launch crew were not harmed. Vice president of the GLONASS federal network operator Yevgeny Belyanko said the loss of three satellites would not affect the operation of the GLONASS system.