International Space Station: Russian Progress Capsule Loses Communication With Ground Control
ByCrewmembers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were not able to receive a Russian cargo capsule Tuesday because of a navigational antenna malfunction.
According to Reuters, Russia's Progress M-27M capsule was sent spinning uncontrollably when two antennae did not open properly. Unable to dock, the astronauts aboard the ISS have not been able to receive the food and fuel the capsule was meant to deliver.
"Russian flight controllers have continued to try and recover command capability with the ISS Progress 59 cargo craft this morning. The most recent ground pass started at 9:20 a.m. EDT and flight controllers reported no change in the issues with receiving telemetry data from the unmanned craft," NASA said in a mission update around 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday. "The Russian flight control team attempted to command the vehicle over four orbits flying over Russian ground sites with no success. The next series of ground station passes is expected to resume late Tuesday evening. Teams are standing down on the Thursday docking attempt while Russian teams continue to analyze data and develop a troubleshooting plan going forward."
If the capsule's ground controllers can regain communications with the spacecraft, officials expect the ISS to receive their goods by Thursday morning, CBS News reported. One primary complication is the data from the spacecraft has not been completely reliable.
SpaceX performed a resupply mission earlier this month and in late March, one NASA astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut embarked on a yearlong stay on the ISS. Unlike the SpaceX resupply capsule, the Progress spacecraft was not delivering science and research equipment.