MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Russia's Zenit launch vehicle, which blasted off from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean as part of the Sea Launch program, fell back into the ocean, a space rocket industry source told Interfax.
"The first stage of the rocket malfunctioned. The rocket took an incorrect trajectory immediately after takeoff," he said.
The Mission Control Center is forming a commission to investigate the accident, a source in the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation said.
The rocket's first stage, powered by an RD-171 engine provided by Energomash, malfunctioned, causing the launch vehicle to fall back into the ocean.
The Zenit-3SL rocket with a DM-SL booster that was launched under the Sea Launch program at 10.56 a.m. Moscow time on Friday was to inserted the Intelsat-27 communication satellite into the geostationary orbit.
Zenith-3SL launches are conducted by the Sea Launch international consortium, which was created in 1995. The reorganization of the company was completed in 2010. Sea Launch AG is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland.
The Zenith-3SL rocket was developed on the basis of the two-stage Zenith-2 rocket carrier designed by Ukraine's Yuzhnoye construction bureau. Russia's Energia corporation built the DM-SL booster.
The Friday launch was to be the first one under the Sea Launch program in 2013. There were three launches under the program in 2012. In all, the Sea Launch AG made 34 launches of Zenith-3SL rocket carriers from the Odyssey floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.
Three launches under the Sea Launch program ended a failure, one was partly a failure.