BelKA or BKA (an acronym from Belarusian: Беларускі Касмічны Апарат, Belarusian Cosmic Apparatus) is the first satellite of independent

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

First attempt

It was a

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

satellite that utilizes the USP (satellite bus), developed by Belarusian researchers and Russian Rocket and Space Corporation RSC Energia for National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus as the final customer of the satellite, which had the capacity to take photos of the Earth surface, with a maximum resolution of 2-2.5 meters. BelKA was launched, along with seventeen other satellites, on July 26, 2006 at 19:43 GMT, however 86 seconds later, the Dnepr

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

suffered an engine failure and crashed, destroying the satellites. The name BelKA is thought to be an allusion to the Soviet space dog, Belka, who, together with Strelka orbited the Earth and returned safely on Sputnik 5 in 1960. * Configuration: Victoria bus * Outcome: Carrier rocket failure, satellite destroyed

Second attempt

The second launch () was successful. It was launched together with the Russian satellite on the

Soyuz-FG The Soyuz-FG was an improved variant of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the R-7 (rocket family), R-7 rocket family, developed by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. It featured upgraded first and second stage engines, RD-107A and ...

/ Fregat launch vehicle from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

on July 22, 2012, after a long delay. Belarus put the blame for the delay onto British software. It was planned to be operational until the end of 2021.Беларусь и космос: глава Академии наук о новом спутнике, экспериментах и технологиях
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References

{{Orbital launches in 2012 Earth imaging satellites Spacecraft launched in 2006 Satellites of Belarus Spacecraft launched by Dnepr rockets Satellite launch failures 2006 in Belarus Space accidents and incidents in Kazakhstan