A Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a Mexican satellite malfunctioned and crashed in Siberia soon after launch on Saturday.
The third stage of the rocket carrying the MexSat-1 communications satellite suffered a problem about 500 seconds after launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian media quoted Russian space officials as saying.
The cause of the accident, which meant the satellite was not put into orbit, was not immediately established. RIA news agency quoted one space official as saying that all launches of carrier rockets of this type would now be suspended.
The final stage of the Proton could still have contained a few tonnes of heptyl, a highly toxic rocket propellant, when it came down in the Chita region of Siberia, one space official was quoted as saying.
