The astronauts in the International Space Station will have to wait a bit longer for their supplies as the unmanned failed Russian supply ship was unsuccessful in its attempt to deliver more than three tons of food, fuel and other items this past week. The Russian Progress capsule was trying to travel to the ISS after it took off attached to a Soyuz rocket back on April 28.
The failed Russian supply ship is currently falling back towards the Earth’s atmosphere and is expected to burn up by early Friday, according to tracking by the US Air Force. After it launched and was to travel into orbit, the flight controllers lost its signal and radar showed it was unstable and tumbling downward out of orbit.
Information from the Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Center, showed that the Russian supply ship appeared to have possibly suffered some type of explosion as it attempted to travel into orbit, as they saw more than 40 pieces of debris and the ship’s upper stage booster.
Russians to Investigate Failed Russian Supply Ship Incident
The incident of the failed Russian supply ship is being further investigated by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos with a preliminary report scheduled to be released by May 13. The Progress capsule is expected to mostly burn up as it hits the Earth’s atmosphere on Fridaiy, with very little of it surviving to hit the ocean. The precise spot of impact for the Progress capsule is not known at this time, but it is being tracked. Prior to making its final reentry into the atmosphere, the Russian Progress capsule remains will likely be visible to the naked eye and could appear like a very fast moving star, much faster than other items like the ISS. It is possible that people on Earth may notice a meteor-like fiery streak across the skies when the failed Russian supply ship makes its plunge to Earth.
Although its travel is expected to be one that causes it to crash into the ocean, it is slightly possible that the failed Russian supply ship could fall over a land area. It is being tracked by the European Space Agency, as well as both Russian and US authorities. This isn’t the first time a Russian Progress capsule has had problems, as there was a botched mission in 2011 when one suffered an accident upon its launch.
For those who may be concerned that the astronauts up in the ISS will run out of food or supplies, this is not the case as SpaceX has another scheduled launch heading up to resupply the team on June 19.
