The Russian unmanned cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M ended Friday its long fall to Earth disintegrating in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean at 4:04 French time.
Most of the craft probably burned during its descent at high speed in the atmosphere, but small pieces of the structure were still able to survive shock and sinking into the ocean. Almost all spacecraft similar disintegrate in the atmosphere or land in the oceans, which occupy most of the surface of the Earth.
ISS in no danger
A few hours after his
off on April 28, the Progress M-27M, which was to dock Tuesday at the International Space Station to refuel, no longer met the Russian engineers started having uncontrollable reactions. A commission of inquiry was mandated to establish the circumstances of the incident, which seems to have occurred when the separation between the spacecraft and the rocket, it had estimated a week ago the vice president Roskosmos Alexander Ivanov.
The loss of this ship which cost almost half a billion euros is a blow to the Russian space sector, a strategic area, already in the collimator power for stinging setbacks. But it does not endanger the crew of the ISS which has several months of reserves. A supply ship Dragon, the US company SpaceX, should join the ISS at the earliest on June 19 Three to four Progress cargo ships are sent each year in the space , bringing equipment and other supplies necessary for life on the ISS. After their mission, they fall and burn up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.
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