Russia hunts for debris of crashed spacecraft

The launch started off well, but the third stage cut off prematurely.

Russian Emergencies Ministry specialists have reportedly found a fragment of the Russian Progress MS-04 cargo spacecraft in Siberia.

Confirmation that that test was successful is still outstanding.

Roscosmos said was carrying 2 1/2 tons of fuel, food, and equipment. It has been through several upgrades over the decades (Progress, Progress M, Progress M_M and now Progress MS). If the module detached too early, it wouldn’t have enough speed to reach orbit; if it detaches too late, it’s too heavy to reach orbit – so either way, the craft arches back towards Earth, burns up in the atmosphere, crashes down, or both.

This is not the first time a launch has failed – in April 2015 another Progress ship disintegrated as it fell to Earth.

On 27 November, Progress MS-04 was transported by rail from the SC ATF to the Launch Vehicle Assembly & Testing Facility (LC ATF).

“A state investigation commission has been formed and started work at Baikonur”.

A Soyuz rocket launching from Baikonur.

Soyuz rockets also launch astronauts and cosmonauts into space.

The Progress 65’s lost payload included 1,400 lbs.

All powered launch activities took place over Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. It managed to successfully enter the orbit a few minutes later. Although the redesigned Antares worked well, the Atlas 5 has a long, successful track record and it can lift a heavier payload, allowing NASA to pack in more supplies.

Space station managers will have to do some juggling of plans and adjust coming cargo flights. The freighter was supposed to arrive at the ISS on Saturday (Dec. 3).

Roscosmos is still investigating the incident, and it’s not entirely clear why this Progress cargo ship failed. In the meantime, another attempt to deliver cargo to the ISS will be made on December 9, this time on board the Japanese Konotori-6 spacecraft.

It appears at this point that there was a problem with the third stage of the rocket, which is created to kick the cargo pod into a matching orbit with the ISS. NASA upcoming missions bound to the ISS are scheduled for spring 2017.

Russian news agency sources, however, are not optimistic about the possible outcome.