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Roscosmos, the
Russian equivalent of NASA, made the announcement after the
Kommersant daily reported that manufacturing problems had been
detected in some Proton-M rockets and that some launches were
likely to be delayed by several months "in a best case
scenario."
European, U.S. and Asian firms rely heavily on Russia to launch
their commercial satellites, and a Roscosmos source told
Kommersant that Moscow planned to launch 27 rockets this year,
eight of which were Proton-Ms.
"Additional tests (on the Proton-M) are being carried out. That
explains the possible delay in launches," said a spokesman for
Roscosmos, without providing details. Igor Burenkov, a spokesman
for the corporation, said it would become clear after the tests
if there would definitely be delays and for how long.
Kommersant reported that the problem was linked to components
used in the rockets' engines and concerns that some of them were
not sufficiently heat-resistant.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down the problems, saying
Roscosmos did suffer some setbacks, but that it also had great
success in many areas.
An unmanned Russian cargo ship loaded with supplies for the
International Space Station broke apart about six minutes after
lift off in December. It was carried by a Soyuz rocket.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov/Denis Pinchuk; Editing by Andrew
Osborn)
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