Botched Russian launch junks two telecom satellites

MOSCOW,  Aug 8:  Russia failed to launch two multimillion-dollar satellites that were to have provided Indonesia and Russia with telecom services, casting new doubt on a once-pioneering space industry. Russia’s space agency said the failure of the upper stage of the launch atop its workhorse Proton rocket led to the loss of Indonesia’s Telkom-3 and Russia’s Express MD2 satellites. (agencies)