MOSCOW, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A Russian rocket failed to launch three GPS satellites into orbit and fell into the Pacific Ocean Sunday, an aerospace industry source said.
The DM-3 booster with three Glonass-M satellites landed northwest of Hawaii, causing no casualties or damage, RIA Novosti reported. The Glonass is the Russian equivalent of a global positioning system.
The Russian Proton-M carrier rocket, launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan with the three satellites and the booster, went off course by 8 degrees, the source said.
The satellites were launched to complete Russia's global navigation system but failed to reach their planned orbit and may not work. They were supposed to go into operation in six weeks.
Russia currently has 26 Glonass satellites in orbit, but three of them are not working.
