Russian space officials warn spacecraft might not burn up entirely in atmosphere
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Russian space agency Roscosmos believes some fragments of its out of control spaceship may hit Earth on Friday.
It claims most of the Progress spaceship will burn up in the atmosphere, as is the case with all space cargo carriers once they have delivered their shipments to the ISS.
But there is a chance some small parts will crash on to land - although no one knows where or when these fragments will hit.
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The Progress spaceship was launched on April 28, but entered the wrong orbit and went into an uncontrollable spin.
Russian flight controllers have since been unable to regain command of the wayward ship, which is carrying three tons of supplies to the ISS.
'The space ship will completely burn up in the layers of the atmosphere and only a few small parts of elements of its construction could reach the surface of our planet,' the space agency said.
While some have claimed that citizens are at risk of being struck by pieces of the ship, CBS News space consultant, William harwood, said the chances were 'very close to zero.'
Russian ballistics experts are now working with Nasa and Esa to track the craft's path. But the event isn't as rare as believed, according to Nasa.
'Several hundred objects with more than 200 metric tons are tracked in space as they reenter each year,' a spokesperson for Nasa told DailyMail.com.
'About every week, a rocket body or spacecraft re-enters. Typically, objects with a mass of at least four metric tons re-enter uncontrolled at least once per year.'
The head of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, Igor Komarov, cited a lack of pressure in the main block of the propulsion system in the decision to abort the mission.
'The program plans for these kinds of things to happen. They're very unfortunate when they do,' said Kelly, one month into a yearlong mission, which will be a record for Nasa.
He added: 'The important thing is hardware can be replaced.'
Kornienko called it 'a big concern.' But he expressed '100 per cent confidence' that operations will continue as planned until the next shipment arrives.
Progress is not designed to be able to return to Earth, so if it does re-enter Earth's atmosphere it's likely most of it would burn up during the intense heat of re-entry as it lacks a heat shield.
Roscosmos' problems began shortly after a Russian Soyuz 2-1A rocket launched the latest Progress resupply vehicle to the ISS. 'Almost immediately after spacecraft separation, a series of telemetry problems were detected with the Progress 59,' a Nasa spokesperson said during a televised broadcast from Mission Control
However, because the spacecraft can not be brought back under partial control, the tumbling spacecraft is left to re-enter of its own accord, then some pieces of it could make it to the ground.
With more than two thirds of Earth covered by water, and only three per cent of land containing urban areas, it's highly unlikely any part of the spacecraft would cause damage.
An expert told MailOnline last week that the spacecraft was unresponsive to commands, most of its sensors had failed and its fuel was heavily depleted - meaning regaining control is now impossible.
There also seems to be a debris cloud in its vicinity, possibly from an explosion. All the signs indicate that there will be no chance of recovering it.
'It's gone,' UK space expert Dr Duncan Law-Green from the University of Leicester said.
Current theories as to what happened include a collision with the third stage of the rocket, or an explosion on Progress itself.
The Joint Space Operations Centre at the US Vandenberg Air Force in California detected 44 items of debris of unknown origin in orbit close to ailing Progress space ship.
This suggests an explosion on the spacecraft during or after the launch.
The spacecraft was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station six hours after take off, but that plan has now been 'indefinitely abandoned'. Pictured left is a cargo ship in the same family, Progress M-59, as seen from the International Space Station (right) during docking
Progress M-27M suffered the major malfunction moments after launch. 'Almost immediately after spacecraft separation, a series of telemetry problems were detected with the Progress 59,' Nasa spokesperson Rob Navias said during a televised broadcast from Mission Control
Soon after launch, Nasa's Mission Control reported that a video camera on Progress showed it to be spinning at a 'rather significant rate.'
The dizzying footage, which was taken from the Progress 59 spacecraft, shows the Earth and sun moving in and out of the frame.
'Almost immediately after spacecraft separation, a series of telemetry problems were detected with the Progress 59,' Nasa spokesperson Rob Navias said during a televised broadcast from Mission Control.
'No confirmation of navigational antenna deploy or of the pressurisation of the manifold system for the propulsion system on the spacecraft was received.'
Russian spacecraft, including those used to send astronauts to the ISS, recently have acquired the capability to take a more direct six-hour route to the orbiting outpost.
The cargo ship launched on April 28 on a Soyuz 2-1A rocket (pictured). Progress was supposed to deliver cargo, including fuel, equipment, oxygen and food, to the space station, which currently has a six-person crew from Russia, the United States and Italy
But they still have the option of the longer, traditional route lasting two days.
Aside from Progress, there are several other cargo spacecraft available for the ISS.
Two have been taken out of service in the last year - Esa retired its unmanned vehicle, the ATV, while Nasa's other supplier, Orbital Sciences, is still grounded following a launch explosion last October at Virginia.
However, SpaceX's Dragon capsule recently successfully carried cargo to the station, and Japan's HTV is scheduled to take more cargo into orbit later this year - alongside other Progress flights.
So while the potential loss of an entire load of supplies on Progress is a serious blow to the International Space Station, it is not detrimental to the crew on board.
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