Phobos-Grunt

Russia's first planetary mission in 15 years faces potentially fatal problem almost immediately after entering its initial Earth orbit. A two-stage Zenith rocket lifted off from Site 45 in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 9, 2011, at 00:16:02.871 Moscow Time. Russian space agency, Roskosmos, limited its 'coverage' of the mission's initial phase by two sentences about the successful launch, however provided no updates on the status of orbital maneuvers in time for critical engine burns. During the entire night of November 8 and early morning of November 9, a web site of NPO Lavochkin, the spacecraft's prime developer, featured 'news' about the preparation of the mission and awards to the company's workers! The official Russian media, which avalanched the Internet with headlines about the successful launch, were also eerily silent about the post-liftoff status of the mission. Thus, Russia's first 21st century planetary mission was circling Earth in the state of a virtual informational blackout.
GoogleSatTrack
http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/trac...

• Category

  Science & Technology

[ThomasARickhoff]

Russia has just been having some bad luck with spacecraft lately.

[ClinicalChemist]

common, the text under the video is incorrect, I learned about the problem with the mission from Russian media

[HVYMETL]

I bet its another "software glitch". Its always a software glitch; NASA's problem too. I think they want the software to be so complex that its nearly impossible to check it.