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Russia prepares to deorbit failed Progress cargo spacecraft

Xinhua, April 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

No more attempts will be made to dock the Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), and efforts to safely destruct the spacecraft are underway, Russia's Mission Control Center (MCC) said Wednesday.

"Preparations for the safe deorbiting of the Progress are underway. Only a miracle can save the spacecraft. The risk of docking is too high," a MCC source said.

The official website of the MCC has deactivated the prepared news about docking dated April 30, the day the attempt to dock with the ISS was previously scheduled.

According to the MCC, uncontrolled spinning of the cargo spacecraft makes it highly dangerous for the ISS crew to do a manual docking.

The attempt to establish communication undertaken at 03:50 a.m. Moscow time (0050 GMT) Wednesday when the spaceship re-entered the communication range has failed, the MCC said, adding that the spaceship is expected to re-enter the atmosphere on May 7-11.

The Progress M-27M was launched by a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at around 10:09 a.m. Moscow time (0709 GMT) Tuesday and was planned to dock with the ISS at 16:07 p.m. Moscow time (1307 GMT).

The resupply vehicle was carrying about 2.5 tons of cargo, including fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment.

Meanwhile, the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos denied that a replica of the Victory Banner to celebrate the upcoming Russian Victory Day on May 9, which commemorates the victory in 1945 over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War, Russia's term for World War II, was onboard the spaceship.

The banner was actually delivered to the ISS on March 27 by the Soyuz TMA-16M manned transport spacecraft, the Roscosmos said. Endi