Wed, Aug 24, 2011
All Soyuz Launches May Be Impacted
ANN Realtime Update 8.24.2011 1214 EDT The
Russian Progress cargo spacecraft which launched Wednesday morning
(EDT) on a re-supply mission to ISS failed to separate from its
third stage booster about six minutes into its flight, and impacted
the ground in the Altai Republic in South Siberia. It was the first
reported loss of a Russian Progress freighter.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports that the accident
may cause Roscosmos to suspend all Soyuz launches, including manned
missions, while the accident is under investigation, meaning for
the time being there is no means of transport to the station. The
U.S. has a four-year contract worth more than $1 billion for crew
transportation to the ISS.
Roscosmos says it has carried out 130 successful launches of the
Progress freighters since they entered service in 1972. Officials
say that the STS-135 mission carried enough supplies to the station
to last about a year.
Original Story: Mission Control Moscow reported
an abnormal situation from the Progress 44 cargo craft that
launched on time at 0900 EDT Wednesday.
According to NASA, Progress 44 launched from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome into a cloudless sky at 1900 Kazakhstan time bound for
the International Space Station and a docking on Friday. At the
time of launch, the space station was flying 230 miles over
Equatorial Guinea on the west coast of Africa. The spacecraft is
carrying 2.9 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the space
station.
But, 5 minutes and 50 seconds after
launch, Mission Control Houston received a report of an
“off-nominal situation” during the rocket's third and
final stage. NASA says further details will be provided as
they become available.
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