A Proton-M rocket crashed one minute after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos said Tuesday.
A live TV broadcast showed the rocket, carrying three Glonass-M satellites, changing its flight direction a few seconds after take-off, falling and exploding over the space center, reported Xinhua.
Specialists were immediately evacuated from launch pads nearby as a toxic cloud generated by the rocket fuel appeared over the site.
"There was an accident during the Proton-M launch. The rocket fell and exploded on the territory of the launch site," a Roscosmos spokesman said, adding an investigation commission has been set up.
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