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Fregat producer to check all space boosters after launch failure — source

A TASS source in the space industry earlier said that the Fregat could have fallen in the Atlantic Ocean due to faults in the Glonass and GPS equipment aboard the booster

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. The Lavochkin research and production association will check all manufactured Fregat boosters, a source in the space industry told TASS on Wednesday after a recent failed launch.

"The Lavochkin Research and Production Association will check all Fregat boosters produced earlier. If defects are found, they [the boosters] will be sent for further development," the source said.

The Lavochkin Research and Production Association did not comment on this information for TASS.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome at 08:41 Moscow time with 19 space satellites on board on Tuesday.

Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos earlier reported that "the Soyuz 2.1b rocket put the booster Fregat and space satellite Meteor-M in the designated intermediate orbit." However, efforts failed to establish contact with the booster during the first planned communications session.

A TASS source in the space industry earlier said that the Fregat could have fallen in the Atlantic Ocean due to faults in the Glonass and GPS equipment aboard the booster, which is designed to increase the accuracy of delivering satellites into orbit.

A problem earlier occurred with another Fregat booster. During its fueling at the Baikonur space center to prepare the Angosat communications satellite for the launch, a problem emerged with the operation of one of the booster’s valves. Finally, the problem was removed and the launch of the Zenit carrier rocket with the booster and the satellite was rescheduled from December 7 to December 26.