Kazakhstan has lifted its ban on Proton launches after compensation was paid

Published: 9/1/1999

According to Reuters, on August 31st 1999, Kazakhstan lifted its ban on the launches of Russian Proton rockets, after Moscow paid compensation for a recent crash of one of the boosters. The move follows speculation that both sides were close to resolving the issue (www.concise.org. 8th August 1999). Interfax news agency reported that Kazakh and Russian officials confirmed that a launch of a Proton, one of the workhorses of the Russian space programme, would take place on September 6th 1999. Kazakhstan banned all launches from its Baikonur cosmodrome after a Proton-K rocket crashed on July 5th, scattering debris over central areas of the country. It later relented, halting only Proton launches pending the results of a joint investigation. According to Interfax, Yuri Koptev, head of Russia's aerospace agency, said that Moscow had paid $270,000 in compensation and that preparations were being made for the September 6th launch of a Proton to take two Russian Yamal-100 communications satellites into space. Ilya Klebanov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, said that the Kazakhs and Russians had worked well to solve the Proton problem. He added that: "Rockets will of course crash in the future but now we have a fixed set of procedures in the case of such incidents."

Article ID: 816