MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/: The state commission at the Baikonur spaceport cleared a Proton-M carrier rocket for its launch on July 31, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Thursday.
"Following the reports by State Corporation Roscosmos specialists about the readiness of the space rocket and the ground-based space infrastructure of the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the launch, the state commission made a decision on fueling the Proton-M launch vehicle and confirmed the launch time," Roscosmos said.
The Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M booster and the Russian Express-103 and Express-80 telecoms satellites will be launched from Site No. 200 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 00:25 a.m. Moscow time on July 31, Roscosmos specified.
In compliance with the schedule of the pre-launch preparations, the Baikonur spaceport’s launch teams will start filling the rocket’s tanks with the oxidizer at 6:30 p.m. Moscow time and with the fuel at 8:10 p.m. Moscow time, it said.
A source in the space industry earlier told TASS that specialists at the Baikonur spaceport checked the device whose faulty operation had prompted Roscosmos to delay the launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket from July 30 to July 31.
A source in the space industry told TASS on Wednesday that the rocket’s launch was delayed due to the problems with the device made by the company MOKB Mars (part of Rosatom civilian nuclear power corporation) responsible for the safe operation of the engine of the Briz-M booster. Roscosmos did not comment on the source’s information on Wednesday. TASS also could not get an official comment from MOKB Mars.
Roscosmos announced on Wednesday that the launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket with the Russian Express-80 and Express-103 telecoms satellites was delayed over the need to hold additional checks of assemblies and equipment.
As Roscosmos Spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko told TASS, specialists at the Baikonur spaceport were due to carry out additional technical work with the Proton-M carrier rocket by the afternoon of July 30.
