The ISS or International Space Station is still orbiting around our Earth six times per day, but recently they’ve run into a little problem. A Russian cargo spaceship that was supposed to restock the ISS has been delayed by a technical difficulty. The crew aboard the ISS, including America’s Twitter-famous, Scott Kelly will have to wait a little longer for extra supplies. As it stands, it appears they will have to wait for another launch, as the current mission will be completely scrapped. Although teams have worked diligently to regain control of the rocket, it appears to be losing altitude and will soon reenter Earth’s atmosphere.
The Russian cargo spaceship was unmanned and sent from Russia, but the delivery of its cargo is going to have to be postponed. Data from the ship was not being received, halting the mission. A malfunctioning antenna made the Russian cargo spaceship careen veer off course. Anton Shkaplerov, Gennady Padalka, and Mikhail Korniyenko are all Russians aboard the ISS, along with Americans, Scott Kelly and Terry Virts as well as Italian astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti. The Russian cargo space ship, the M-27M would have reached all aboard the ISS within six hours of launching if everything had just gone smoothly.
Russian Cargo Spaceship Loses Antenna
The Russian cargo space ship careened out of its linear destination due to the loss of the antenna. In the meantime, a Thursday docking of the cargo ship was planned as the Russian Earthbound teams troubleshoot with plans to correct the problem and move forward. The launch took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning, but a delay of two days is now expected in docking at the space station. The Roscosmos space agency is working diligently to get the supplies to those orbiting around in space. If everything isn’t perfect and in tune, the launch of supplies could miss the intended orbit and be lost in space. Better to be late than gone forever. The Russian cargo spaceship primarily held fuel, food, and other important supplies for everyone on board the ISS.
Russia Has Been an ISS Workhorse
Russia takes immense pride in space exploration and this is definitely a setback. Something as simple, as an antenna failure makes for a monumental disaster. While the members aboard the ISS have about six months worth of supplies, the loss of the Russian cargo spaceship does put a wedge in their reinforcements. Russian officials are meeting today to discuss options and whether they should continue efforts to salvage the rocket, or simply allow it to enter the atmosphere and burn up. Plans will have to be made to quickly have another Russian cargo space ship on its way to the ISS.
Check out this fairly different take on the term “Up In The Air” in this first episode of Wanderlust, featured on Clapway’s YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/Ml89lEHLWW8
