Russian carrier rocket crashes after launch

Moscow, Jul 27: A Russian carrier rocket with 18 satellites on board crashed in a remote area of Kazakhstan shortly after it blasted off from the Baikonur space centre.

The Dnepr carrier rocket, a civilian version of the heavy R-36M2 Voyevoda (SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missile, was launched around midnight (2000 hrs GMT), but experienced a second stage breakdown 86 seconds into the flight.

''In the 86th second of the flight, an emergency engine shutdown occurred on board the Dnepr carrier rocket,'' media reports quoted a spokesman of the Mission Control Centre as saying.

No casualties or environmental damage were reported and a special investigation commission launched an investigation into the accident, he said.

Russia has been using converted ballistic missiles to launch satellites into orbit since 1999.

The Dnepr, which was seen as a highly reliable carrier rocket, has a lift-off weight of about 250-metric tons and can carry a satellite payload of up to 3.7 tons to orbits at an altitude of 300-900 kilometres.

UNI