Searchers Were Looking For The Lost "Progress" Spacecraft

Russian crews hoping to locate the wreckage of the "Progress 44" spacecraft which failed to achieve orbit last moth have come across an accident of a different kind. They have located the wreckage of an Mi-2 helicopter which went down 35 years ago on a firefighting mission.

Progress File Photo

While all six people aboard the helicopter managed to get out of the aircraft, which burned after impacting the ground in a swamp, the wreckage had never been recovered. The Russian English-language news channel RT.com reports that the helicopter went down in 1975, but its wreckage had remained in the swamp until now.

As for the Progress 44 spacecraft, searchers have yet to find any large pieces of the cargo ship, which went down in the Altay Mountains when a gas generator in the booster's third stage appears to have malfunctioned. It was on a mission to deliver fuel and other supplies to the ISS. The search for debris from the accident is ongoing.

FMI: www.roscosmos.ru