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Kazakhstan admits losing satellite

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Kazakhstan has lost its first KàzSàt-1 satellite, the head of the national space agency said on Tuesday.

ASTANA, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan has lost its first Kazsat-1 satellite, the head of the national space agency said on Tuesday.

"The KazSat-1 satellite went completely out of control on November 26 and has not responded to any commands. That's it. It's gone," Talgat Musabayev said.

The $65 million satellite, Kazakhstan's first, stopped broadcasting to the country's territory on June 8. Its Russian manufacturer said in late October, however, the malfunctioning satellite had been brought back into geostationary orbit.

The Khrunichev space research and production center said it had fixed the problem together with Kazakh specialists earlier in October, and the satellite would resume its regular operations once all of its systems had been tested.

Khrunichev, one of Russia's leading space-industry firms, developed the KazSat-1 under a contract with the Kazakh government. It was put into orbit in June 2006.

The company is currently building a second satellite for Kazakhstan, KazSat-2, in cooperation with Russian and foreign companies, including the Russian Institute of Space Engineering and European company Alcatel Alenia Space.

KazSat-2 is to be launched in 2009.

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