Advertisement

WATCH: Russian rocket explodes after lift-off

Watch the video above: Russian Proton-M explodes after launch

A Russian Proton-M booster rocket broke apart and then exploded shortly after launch on Friday.

The rocket, which was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, was carrying a multi-million dollar communications satellite. According to the Russia Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, the rocket malfunctioned about 160 km above Earth.

This isn’t the first time the Proton rocket has suffered from a catastrophic failure: the Proton-M rocket was grounded in July 2013 after it crashed back to Earth with three Glonass navigation satellites.

According to the Russian new agency ITAR-TASS, an investigation is being launched into the failure.

Sponsored content

AdChoices