Video: Unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket crashes just after launch in Kazakhstan "A rocket carrier fell to the ground and exploded on the territory of the cosmodrome," the space agency said in a statement, adding the rocket fell on the territory of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The agency said that during the accident, which took place 10-15 seconds after takeoff, toxic rocket fuel was released into the air. A Roskosmos spokesman could not immediately say whether people living near the crash site were being evacuated. Russia has suffered several recent setbacks in its space programme, notably losing expensive satellites and an unmanned supply ship to the International Space Station.