MOSCOW (AP) — Russia lost contact with a communications satellite shortly after its launch Thursday, the government space agency said, the latest in a series of failures that has dogged the nation's space program.
The Express-AM4 satellite, described by officials as Russia's most powerful telecommunications satellite, was launched atop a Proton-M booster rocket from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Federal Space Agency said in a statement the booster itself worked fine, but a subsequent failure of the additional upper stage, the Briz-M, resulted in the loss of communications with the satellite. It said efforts were being made to re-establish contact with the 5.8-ton (6.38-ton) craft.
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