As a result of the explosion of the fuel tank of the Fregat-SB upper stage, 65 fragments remained in space. About it in his Twitter account 18th U.S. Air Force Space Control Squadron. This division is engaged in the detection, identification and tracking of artificial objects in near-Earth orbit.
It is noted that collisions of debris with other objects were not recorded. According to the US military, the explosion of the fuel tank occurred on May 8 between 7:02 and 8:51 Moscow time. The cause of the explosion is unknown, but it is clarified that it did not occur due to a collision with another object. Whether the debris poses a threat to satellites in orbit is not specified. The press service of the state corporation "Roscosmos" has not yet commented on this incident.
Recall that the Fregat-SB is a modification of the Fregat upper stage with a drop-down tank block. "Fregat-SB" is intended for launch vehicles of medium and heavy classes. These upper stages were used to launch the Russian astrophysical observatory Spektr-R into orbit on a Zenit-3M rocket in 2011, as well as to send 34 satellites of the British company OneWeb into space on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket this year.
In 2017, after the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the site of the cosmodrome, the Fregat Vostochny upper stage was in the zone of no radar, and the Meteor-M meteorological satellite did not get in touch. It was later announced that he had fallen into the ocean.
Source: 3dnews.ru