Space setback

The Russian space program has suffered several bitter setbacks in the past nine months.

Just last week, the Russian telecommunication satellite Express-AM4 vanished off radar. A short time later it was found by Russia's traditional rivals in the space race, the United States. It had ended up in the wrong orbit.

In December, three navigation satellites crashed into the Pacific. Three months later, the military surveillance satellite Geo-Ik-2 also ended up in the wrong orbit. And on Wednesday, the unmanned cargo spacecraft Progress crashed in the Altay mountains in eastern Russia, on the way to delivering supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

Billions into a black hole

According to calculations by Russian daily newspaper Kommersant, Russia's accidents "en route to space" have cost at least 16 billion rubles (about 380 million euros/$548 million) .

Boris Lyashchuk, managing director of the Russian Space Academy in Moscow, told Deutsche Welle he could find no rational explanation for this series of failures, labeling it as probably just an unlucky streak.

"I've already experienced something like that in the Perestroika era and in the '90s. The current breakdown is most likely due to a random failure," he said.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said in a statement that the accident was likely due to problems with the ignition of the rocket's third stage.

Consequences for ISS

In the meantime, further launches have been canceled for safety reasons. Until as recently as a few weeks ago, when the rival US space program shut down its space shuttle program with the final flight of Atlantis, the Russians had been enjoying the fact that they were once again number one in the space race.

But after the latest accident, Russia now faces critical questions. In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel, Johann-Dietrich Wörner, the head of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), called for an international investigation into the incident.

"This cannot be left solely to the Russians," said Wörner.

The next manned Soyuz mission to the space station had been planned for September 22, with two Russians and one American on board. This flight will likely be postponed until the error is found and eliminated. The three astronauts who should have returned to Earth will have to extend their stay in space, though NASA has assured that they have sufficient supplies to last them until the end of 2012.

Lost years, renewed interest

Lyashchuk believes this streak of bad luck is not a permanent setback for the Russian space program, as there have been significant investments and growing interest in space science from the Russian state in recent years.

During the past 20 years space projects were virtually ignored, says Lyashchuk, leading to neglected facilities and insufficient investment in training.

"Previously, the space study programs were among the most popular, but now everyone would rather become managers, lawyers and directors," he said.

For the people in the Altai region where Progress crashed, there are other concerns besides the space programs future.

The liquid fuel that leaked from the crash site has carcinogenic effects and could seriously harm the environment, according to Alexei Jablokov, a representative of Green Russia. He says it's difficult to contain the fuel, as it absorbs quickly into the surrounding soil and groundwater.

Authors: Olga Sosnytska / Yegor Vinogradov / sjt
Editor: Martin Kuebler