Red Devil
08-22-03, 06:12 PM
BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - An explosion has destroyed a Brazilian rocket due for blast off in coming days and killed 19 people at its jungle launch site, ending Brazil's third attempt to fulfil a long-held dream of becoming a space power. A further 20 people were seriously wounded in the explosion, which sent a huge plume of smoke into the air above the tropical headland sticking into the Atlantic Ocean where the launch base is situated.
"Nineteen people died and there are about 20 seriously wounded," said Raimundo de Souza, a Public Security spokesman for the northeastern state of Maranhao. Both civilians and military officials were killed, he said. Television showed amateur footage of smoke billowing far into the sky. The explosion was heard dozens of miles (kilometres) away in the town of Sao Luis.
Officials said the rocket was not in the process of being launched when it blew up. There was no immediate explanation for the cause of the blast at the base where roughly 800 people were preparing the $6.5 million (4.13 million pounds), 65-foot (20-metre) rocket for its scheduled launch next week. It was sitting in a large structure on the launch pad at Brazil's tropical Alcantara space base on a jungle peninsula jutting into the ocean when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. British time on Friday).
Brazil had been hoping to make the first successful venture into space by a Latin American nation. Rockets launched by Brazil in 1997 and 1999 were destroyed shortly after lift-off because of technical problems. Experts have been working since the beginning of July to assemble the so-called Satellite Launch Vehicle. The rocket was going through final tests up to August 24, after which officials at the base said it would have been ready to initiate the launch sequence.
Officials said this week there had been no glitches so far. The rocket was to have transported two small satellites, carrying positioning equipment, a communications transmitter and energy source. They were to have been released into low orbit about 470 miles above the Earth less than eight minutes after blastoff.
The launch pad is situated in a heavily guarded section of the huge space base. First word of the accident reached Brasilia at the same time as the head of the Brazilian Space Agency was holding a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart about a deal to launch Ukrainian Cyclone rockets from Alcantara.
"This sad accident should not and will not influence relations between Brazil and Ukraine," said Valeriy Komarov, the head of the Ukrainian Space Agency. Brazil has aspirations for Alcantara to become a major international commercial satellite launch centre. The base is close to the Equator, allowing rockets to use less fuel to reach orbit and carry larger payloads because they catch a ride on the Earth's centrifugal forces.
What I would like to know is why Brazil, with its millions of poor, can afford to join space launching?????:mad:
"Nineteen people died and there are about 20 seriously wounded," said Raimundo de Souza, a Public Security spokesman for the northeastern state of Maranhao. Both civilians and military officials were killed, he said. Television showed amateur footage of smoke billowing far into the sky. The explosion was heard dozens of miles (kilometres) away in the town of Sao Luis.
Officials said the rocket was not in the process of being launched when it blew up. There was no immediate explanation for the cause of the blast at the base where roughly 800 people were preparing the $6.5 million (4.13 million pounds), 65-foot (20-metre) rocket for its scheduled launch next week. It was sitting in a large structure on the launch pad at Brazil's tropical Alcantara space base on a jungle peninsula jutting into the ocean when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. British time on Friday).
Brazil had been hoping to make the first successful venture into space by a Latin American nation. Rockets launched by Brazil in 1997 and 1999 were destroyed shortly after lift-off because of technical problems. Experts have been working since the beginning of July to assemble the so-called Satellite Launch Vehicle. The rocket was going through final tests up to August 24, after which officials at the base said it would have been ready to initiate the launch sequence.
Officials said this week there had been no glitches so far. The rocket was to have transported two small satellites, carrying positioning equipment, a communications transmitter and energy source. They were to have been released into low orbit about 470 miles above the Earth less than eight minutes after blastoff.
The launch pad is situated in a heavily guarded section of the huge space base. First word of the accident reached Brasilia at the same time as the head of the Brazilian Space Agency was holding a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart about a deal to launch Ukrainian Cyclone rockets from Alcantara.
"This sad accident should not and will not influence relations between Brazil and Ukraine," said Valeriy Komarov, the head of the Ukrainian Space Agency. Brazil has aspirations for Alcantara to become a major international commercial satellite launch centre. The base is close to the Equator, allowing rockets to use less fuel to reach orbit and carry larger payloads because they catch a ride on the Earth's centrifugal forces.
What I would like to know is why Brazil, with its millions of poor, can afford to join space launching?????:mad: