APRIL 29, 2015
An unmanned Russian spacecraft originally bound for the
International Space Station will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere after flight
controllers lost contact with it, American astronaut Scott Kelly said
Wednesday.
The spacecraft that lost contact with flight controllers
will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in about a week, Roscosmos, the Russian
Federal Space Agency, said Wednesday.
"Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) announced
that the Progress will not be docking and will re-enter the Earth's
atmosphere," Kelly said from the space station.
The Progress resupply vehicle will come off its orbit and
will begin its combustion in the atmosphere between May 5 and May 7, according
to Roscosmos. The Progress vehicle does not present any danger to the
International Space Station due to a significant difference in orbit, Roscosmos
added.
The Russia space agency said it is working on its next
supply flight to the ISS and expects to launch a new Progress ship in the third
quarter of this year.
Russia lost contact with ISS Progress 59 during a resupply
mission to the International Space Station. The ship is now spinning out of
control, NASA said.
Even if Russia hadn't lost contact with the craft, the
original plan was for Progress to burn up re-entering Earth's atmosphere --
albeit with garbage rather than a full load of equipment for the space station.
According to NASA information on the Progress resupply
vehicle, "After the cargo is removed and before the Progress undocks, the
crew refills it with trash, unneeded equipment and wastewater, which will burn
up with the spacecraft when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere."
The cargo spacecraft launched successfully early Tuesday
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
But after it separated from the Soyuz booster rocket's third
stage, Russian flight controllers were unable to confirm the health of all the
spacecraft's systems, including the deployment of navigational antennae, NASA
said.
"The spacecraft made another pass over Russian ground
stations and continued to experience telemetry problems regarding the
deployment of navigational antennas and the pressurization of the manifolds in
the propulsion system," the American space agency said in an update.
A planned rendezvous with the ISS six hours later was
initially postponed to Thursday but has now been canceled, NASA said in its
latest update.
"Docking has been called off for the Progress 59
spacecraft," it said. "Russian flight controllers are continuing to
assess the vehicle and what the plan going forward will be. Additional
information will be provided as it becomes available."
Few details have been forthcoming so far from Roscosmos.
According to NASA, the cargo ship is carrying more than 3
tons of food, fuel, oxygen, spare parts and scientific experiment hardware for
the space station.
But the hitch will not put the six ISS crew members at risk,
NASA said.
"The spacecraft was not carrying any supplies critical
for the United States Operating Segment (USOS) of the station," a
statement said. "Both the Russian and USOS segments of the station
continue to operate normally and are adequately supplied well beyond the next
planned resupply flight."
That next flight, which will be the seventh SpaceX
commercial resupply services mission to the space station, is not scheduled to
take off before June 19, NASA said.
Meanwhile, Russian flight controllers continue their efforts
to make contact with Progress 59 as it passes over Russian ground stations.
NASA said Tuesday that Russian flight controllers had
"confirmed that the vehicle had entered into a slow spin and have issued
commands to attempt to control it."
According to Russian state news agency Tass, six attempts to
make contact were to be made Wednesday.
The U.S. supplies on board the spacecraft include spare
parts for the station's environmental control and life support system, backup
spacewalk hardware and crew clothing, "all of which are replaceable,"
NASA said.
U.S. astronaut Terry Virts, from Maryland, is the current
space station commander.
This is the second issue with space cargo runs in the past
seven months.
Last October, an Antares rocket exploded shortly after
launch, destroying thousands of pounds of cargo on board Orbital Sciences'
Cygnus spacecraft.
//-------------------------------------///
Russia's Spinning Cargo Capsule for Space Station Total Loss
Apr 29, 2015
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA
A Russian supply capsule that went into an uncontrollable
spin after launch was declared a total loss Wednesday, but astronauts at the International
Space Station said they will get by without the delivery of fresh food, water,
clothes and equipment.
"We should be OK," NASA astronaut Scott Kelly
assured The Associated Press. "I think we're going to be in good
shape."
Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko, the space station's
one-year crew members, told the AP during an interview that flight controllers
had given up trying to command the cargo carrier. NASA and the Russian Space
Agency later confirmed the news.
The unmanned Progress vessel, bearing 3 tons of goods, began
tumbling when it reached orbit Tuesday, following launch from Kazakhstan. The
head of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, Igor Komarov, cited a lack of
pressure in the main block of the propulsion system in the decision to abort
the mission.
Kelly said the craft will fall out of orbit and re-enter the
atmosphere. Russian reports indicated a re-entry possibly next week.
The capsule is expected to burn up harmlessly in the
atmosphere, as is the case for all Progress carriers, once they have delivered
their shipments and are filled with trash.
"The program plans for these kinds of things to happen.
They're very unfortunate when they do," said Kelly, one month into a
yearlong mission, which will be a record for NASA.
He added: "The important thing is hardware can be
replaced."
Kornienko called it "a big concern." But he
expressed "100 percent confidence" that operations will continue as
planned until the next shipment arrives.
Supplying the space station is mostly handled by the United
States and Russia. NASA hired SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to provide
regular shipments, once the shuttle program ended in 2011.
SpaceX plans to send up a load of supplies in June; its most
recent shipment arrived less than two weeks ago.
This is the second cargo ship lost in the past half year.
In October, Orbital Sciences suffered a launch explosion in
Virginia that destroyed a station supply ship.
NASA officials want a six-month supply of food on the space
station, but because of the Orbital Sciences accident, the reserves are down a
month or so.
The Japanese Space Agency also periodically sends up cargo; it is
aiming for a summer shipment.
Six people currently live at the space station: two
Americans, one Italian and three Russians.
Just days before Tuesday's launch, Roscosmos announced that
the cargo ship held a copy of the Banner of Victory, the red flag with the
Soviet hammer and sickle that was raised over the Reichstag in Berlin by
victorious Soviet soldiers in 1945. It is a highly revered symbol of the
victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
But on Wednesday, the agency said the banner was already on
the space station, arriving with Kelly and Kornienko in March.
Russia is planning extensive celebrations for the 70th
anniversary of Victory Day on May 9.