[Billthedrill]

Let's hope the Russians don't GIVE them one.

Ugh. Yep. Word I had was it was the Chinese who were helping them with the re-entry vehicle. I'll see if I can dig up the reference. And so it goes... :-(

[RightWhale]

TECH SPACE
Russian Telecom Satellite Fails After 'Sudden Impact'
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Mar 30, 2006
The Russian Satellite Communications Company's Express-AM11 telecommunications satellite suffered a sudden failure on Wednesday. "At present, providing services via the Express-AM11 satellite is impossible," the company said in a statement. Telemetry showed the failure, which occurred at 6:55 a.m. Moscow Time, was caused by "a sudden external impact on the spacecraft," RSCC said in a statement.

---

Nope, Iran was nowhere near this. Suuuure.