Spacecraft Out Of Control, Docking Plans Scrapped

Russia launched its Progress 59 mission to resupply ISS Tuesday at 3:09 a.m. EDT (1:09 p.m. local time in Baikonur) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but the spacecraft suffered a malfunction shortly after launch that will prevent it from delivering the more than 6,000 pounds of food, fuel, and supplies on board to the International Space Station crew.

According to a NASA blog, Russian flight controllers were initially unable to establish communications with the unmanned cargo ship, and later confirmed that the vehicle had entered into a slow spin. Video eventually downloaded from the spacecraft showed Earth rapidly appearing and disappearing from an onboard camera's field of view.

On Wednesday, NASA reported that any docking attempt with ISS had been abandoned, adding that the spacecraft was not carrying any supplies that would be considered "critical" to the Expedition 43 crew.

Astronaut Scott Kelly, one of the crew members aboard the station for a full year, told the Associated Press that the spacecraft would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere "soon."

"We should be OK. The program plans for these kinds of things to happen. They’re very unfortunate when they do. The important thing is hardware can be replaced," Kelly said.

(Image from video captured by Progress 59 onboard camera)

FMI: www.nasa.gov/station