An out-of-control Russian spacecraft has finally met its demise after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Progress M-27M was supposed to perform a resupply mission with the ISS, but ground control quickly lost contact after its launch on April 28th. Since then, the craft has been orbiting and slowly descending towards the Earth due to natural atmospheric drag and the planet's gravitational pull. Now, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has confirmed that Progress M-27M broke through over the central Pacific Ocean on Friday morning (May 8th). Most of the craft is expected to have burnt up during re-entry, but there's a chance some debris survived. Engineers are still trying to work out why they lost control in the first place -- it occurred after separation with the Soyuz 2-1A rocket, although reports suggest the rocket, rather than Progress, was to blame. Thankfully, no-one was hurt and the ISS is in no immediate danger, given the crew still has plenty of supplies.
Filed under: Science
Via: phys.org
Source: Roscosmos
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