February 12-13 Kazakhstan and Russia to discuss Proton-M launches

February 12-13, 2014 Russia and Kazakhstan are to discuss launches of Proton-M carrier rockets from the Kazakhstan-based Baikonur cosmodrome, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Altai Abibullayev, a spokesman of the Public Communications Service as saying February 10. “February 12-13 Moscow will be hosting the 3rd sitting of the Kazakh-Russian working group to discuss the environmental impact of launches and come up with suggestions on the number of Proton-M launche”, he told a briefing. No more than 10 Proton carrier rockets will be launched from the Kazakhstan-based Baikonur cosmodrome [rented out to Russia] this year, Newskaz.ru reported February 6, citing Meirbek Moldabekov, Vice Chairman of KazKosmos National Space Agency. “There were plans to launch 14 Proton carrier rockets; however, there will be no more than 10 actual launches”, he told journalists on the sidelines of the extended sitting at the Agency February 6. He didn’t specify the reasons behind the reduction of the planned number of launches. Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket [equipped with a DM-3 booster] carrying three Glonass-M navigation satellites crashed right after the lift-off at Kazakhstan-based Baikonur cosmodrome on July 2, 2013. Kazakhstan estimated the damage caused by the accident at 13.5 billion tenge ($89.5 million).