Russian Progress Spacecraft Likely Lost, Would Disintegrate After Reentry in Earth's Atmosphere
ByRussian officials announced efforts to regain control of a cargo space capsule headed to the International Space Station (ISS) have ultimately been unsuccessful.
According to BBC News, the Progress M-27M spacecraft seems likely to head back toward Earth, where it will break up during its descent. The capsule was carrying food and fuel, whereas SpaceX delivered science equipment to the ISS earlier in the month.
The Progress spacecraft took off from Kazakhstan Tuesday and the Russian Space Agency lost communication during the flight. The capsule spun out of control and was unable to dock at the ISS, but mission managers thought they might be able to salvage the capsule.
"The question of the possibility of joining truck and ISS is not worth it. The main thing - to provide his more or less controlled and safe de-orbiting," the Russian news agency Interfax reported. "Analysis of the parameters of the orbit shows that the two-stage rocket Soyuz worked normally. Failure occurred at the stage of the third stage. Because of this ship was in orbit above the calculated value. In addition, there is a strong rotating it around its axis."
As of 9:50 a.m. ET, NASA too confirmed the Progress capsule would not be docking at the ISS.
"Russian flight controllers are continuing to assess the vehicle and what the plan going forward will be," NASA stated. "Additional information will be provided as it becomes available."
ISS crewmembers have enough food and fuel to last them until the next scheduled mission on June 19, BBC News reported. Mission managers expect Progress to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate on the way down.