Zhezqazghan, Kazakhstan, September 7, 2007—The massive crater created by a rocket crash site is seen in this aerial image taken from a television broadcast.

A Proton-M booster rocket carrying Japanese satellites crashed into the Kazakh countryside after taking off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, a space launch facility located in Kazakhstan but operated by Russia.

No injuries occurred, the news agency Kazakhstan Today reported.

On September 10 Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeyev announced that the country will suspend future launches of Proton rockets from the cosmodrome, according to the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

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