Russia losing out in space race warns Dmitry Medvedev

The failure of a workhorse Proton rocket after launch on Monday caused the multimillion-dollar loss of Indonesia's Telkom-3 and Russia's Express-MD2 satellites, according to Russia's space agency.

Russian space agency Roskosmos said an engine failure in the rocket's upper stage, called the Briz-M, meant the craft went into the wrong orbit. A similar problem caused the loss of a $265 million communications satellite last year.

"I don't know the reason for the loss of our satellites – whether it is the upper stage, mechanical damage, elementary negligence or everything together – but we cannot stand this any longer," Medvedev said at a televised government meeting.

"We are losing our authority and billions of roubles."

Medvedev said he would hold a meeting on the subject next week and ordered government officials to look into recent failures. "They must report their recommendations on who to punish and what to do further."

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