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As a result of the loss of the unmanned Progress 59 spacecraft, which was bound for the International Space Station on a routine resupply mission, the timelines of upcoming crew rotations and new launches are “under evaluation” according to Russian and American space sources. ... The vessel, also known as Progress M-27M, burned up minutes later and any surviving pieces fell over the Pacific Ocean. “Debris fell about 900 kilometers west of the Marquesas Islands in the central Pacific Ocean,” a space industry source told the Russian news agency TASS. ... Roscosmos quickly established an investigation board to determine the...

A Russian spacecraft delivering supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) is out of control and will fall back to Earth, officials say. The unmanned cargo ship was launched from Kazakhstan on Tuesday, but contact was lost with it soon afterwards. Russia's space agency says Progress M-27M is now orbiting in an uncontrolled spin. It cannot reach the ISS and is likely to break up on re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The craft carried on to a higher orbit after contact was lost. Igor Komarov, the head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, said: "The craft's continued flight and its docking with the...

Flight controllers are unable to receive data from unmanned Progress M-27M – and the only way to regain control would be an ultra-risky ‘manual stablilisation’ carried out by the ISS crew. But a Russian space program analyst said: “Trying to stabilise it manually would be extremely risky. You could destroy the station and kill the crew.” The spacecraft is carrying more than 6,000lb of food, fuel and supplies for the ISS crew – which is currently home to Russian and American astronauts. The M-27M was launched via a standard Soyuz rocket at 8.09 a.m. GMT today (1.09 p.m. local time...