Russia’s Progress M -27M was meant to bring three tonnes of fuel, food and oxygen to the International Space Station. Roscosmos, Russia’s national space agency, stated in a statement that the spacecraft, which had been defunct, caught fire on Thursday night. Russia’s Tass news agency reported “Earlier Russia’s Space Agency, Roscosmos had reported that the spacecraft lost its near-Earth orbit, and burnt in dense atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 04 on Friday, May 8.” Tass quoted a Roscomos spokesman who stated that “The spacecraft entered dense atmospheric at the 160th loop above the central portion of the Pacific.” Although the Progress M M was only three tonnes, it supplies the International Space Station, the Progress M M spacecraft, the Progress M M spacecraft, the Progress M M spacecraft’s that ISS’s that carries three tons. Roscosmos: The Russian space agency stated that most of its spacecraft would burn as it passed through Earth’s atmosphere at an extremely high speed. However, some small fragments may have made it through the atmosphere and ended up in the sea. On 28thApril, the cargo spacecraft launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Soyuz rockets. Roscosmos claims that the rocket placed the cargo spacecraft in a more difficult orbit than required, rendering it unsuitable to dock with the International Space Station. After several failed attempts, ground control abandoned the notion of controlling Progress M M. Authorities say an investigation is ongoing and they expect to receive a complete report by 13th Mai on the cause of the accident. Roscosmos claims that Russia flew 62 Progress to ISS in order to provide vital supplies. There have been only two failures. Space Daily reports that Russian astronomers have captured what they think was the Russian spacecraft falling three days prior to its scheduled re-entry and burning up. According to reports, the falling spacecraft was captured by Russia’s MASTER telescope in South Africa re-entering into the atmosphere. Moscow State University manages the MASTER network (Mobile Astronomical System of Telescope Robots), which is a worldwide system of telescopes. Video: Russian Spacecraft crashes towards Earth. Al Jazeera’s Tarek Bzley shows you what happened to Russia’s Progress M M satellite.
