Progress Mission To ISS Fails
Russian space freighter fails to reach designated orbit, RIA Novosti
“Russian space agency Roskosmos said the Progress M-12M space freighter failed to reach the designated orbit on Wednesday due to a rocket engine failure. A source in the Russian space industry earlier said the spacecraft had sent a breakdown report while separating from the Soyuz-U carrier rocket on Wednesday. The Mission Control was unable to receive any telemetry data from the spacecraft so far.”
Rocket failure dooms space station cargo freighter launch, Spaceflight Now
“Separation of the Progress 44P was expected at 9:09 a.m. EDT (1309 GMT) to start its two-day automated chase to rendezvous with the station for docking Friday. Instead, the malfunction sent the rocket falling back to Earth. The Interfax news agency reported the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere over eastern Russia. All 43 previous Progress flights for the International Space Station over the past 11 years had occurred successfully.”
Russian space cargo ship fails to reach orbit, CBC
“But the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Alexander Borisov, head of a the Choisky region in Russia’s Altai province, as saying pieces of the craft fell in his area some 1,500 kilometres northeast of the launch site. “The explosion was so strong that for 100 kilometres glass almost flew out of the windows,” he was quoted as saying.”
Communication With Progress 44 Lost After Launch, NASA
“Mission Control Moscow reported that communication with the Progress 44 cargo craft was lost 5 minutes, 20 seconds after its launch at 9 a.m. EDT today. Preliminary data from the Russian Federal Space Agency indicate there was a problem with the propulsion system, and that the vehicle did not reach its desired orbit.”
Russia likely to suspend space deliveries over loss of Progress freighter, RIA Novosti
“The scheduled launches of the [Soyuz] rockets are likely to be suspended because of the space freighter accident… until the reasons [of the accident] are established,” the source said. This means that members of the International Space Station’s crew are likely to stay at the station longer than planned and that the new crew will not be able to replace them on schedule, he said.”
Russians lose supply spacecraft, could cause issues for NASA, Houston Chronicle
“It’s interesting to note that the launch comes about one month after the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, issued the following triumphant statement: “From today, the era of the Soyuz has started in manned space flight, the era of reliability.”
Keith’s note: ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini will hold a press briefing on NASA TV at noon EDT to discuss the Progress mission failure. One would assume that this will affect Soyuz crew flights due to the commonality in launch systems.
Suffredini: Shortly after third stage ignition the spacecraft shut the engine down. The third stage and Progress subsequently crashed. Soyuz-FG (crew) and Soyuz-U (cargo) have similar third stage designs so this will have impact on the planned 22 September crew launch. We can go several months without a resupply vehicle if that becomes necessary. We have a 40-50 days of contingency beyond normal crew stay time. Eventually the Soyuz vehicle on orbit will ‘time out’ and have to come home. If the anomaly is solved the Progress flight in October could fly sooner.
