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.
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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.
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