Sea Launch, the floating spaceport made from a converted oil rig, suffered
its first failure in three launches on 12 March, when a communications satellite
crashed into the Pacific. The first stage of the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit rocket
functioned normally, but signals became erratic during the second stage. Mission
controllers lost contact with the rocket several minutes after its launch. The
lost satellite was the first of a dozen planned for launch by ICO Global
Communications to provide digital voice, fax and message services to mobile
phone users from 11 000 kilometres above Earth.
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