Russia Blames Ukraine-Built Rocket For Crash

A the nose cone of a Dnepr booster rocket (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)

July 30, 2006 -- Russia's space agency today blamed the crash of a rocket carrying one Russian and 17 foreign satellites on a malfunction of the Ukrainian-built booster rocket.

The Dnepr rocket, named after a river crossing Ukraine, failed on July 27, shortly after takeoff, and was later found some 150 kilometers from the launch site at Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

(AFP)