Russia will today seek to recover an unmanned space supply ship that was 'spinning uncontrollably' as it passed within two miles of six astronauts on board the International Space Station. The Progress 38 cargo vessel was supposed to dock with the ISS on Friday but technical glitches led to a rare rendezvous failure. Space station commander Alexander Skvortsov reported the freighter was 'spinning uncontrollably' after a failure of the autopilot 25 minutes before scheduled docking. Later, Vitaly Davydov, the head of the Russian space agency, denied that the cargo ship was out of control. 'The Progress ship and the ISS are in working order and reliable communication with them is being maintained,' he said. There were also denials from Russia and the United States that the six astronauts on board the ISS had been in danger. 'This is something unusual - I have not seen this happen before - but we are not concerned about the people on board the space station,' said Lynnette Madison, a spokeswoman for the Johnson Space Centre, Nasa's centre for human space flight. The Russians described the problem as a faulty radio link. A new effort at docking is expected today after adjustments were made in the freighter's orbit. (Daily Mail)Sunday 4 July 2010
Cargo vessel spins out of control past space station
Russia will today seek to recover an unmanned space supply ship that was 'spinning uncontrollably' as it passed within two miles of six astronauts on board the International Space Station. The Progress 38 cargo vessel was supposed to dock with the ISS on Friday but technical glitches led to a rare rendezvous failure. Space station commander Alexander Skvortsov reported the freighter was 'spinning uncontrollably' after a failure of the autopilot 25 minutes before scheduled docking. Later, Vitaly Davydov, the head of the Russian space agency, denied that the cargo ship was out of control. 'The Progress ship and the ISS are in working order and reliable communication with them is being maintained,' he said. There were also denials from Russia and the United States that the six astronauts on board the ISS had been in danger. 'This is something unusual - I have not seen this happen before - but we are not concerned about the people on board the space station,' said Lynnette Madison, a spokeswoman for the Johnson Space Centre, Nasa's centre for human space flight. The Russians described the problem as a faulty radio link. A new effort at docking is expected today after adjustments were made in the freighter's orbit. (Daily Mail)