Russian Supply Ship Launched to International Space Station
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HEALTH SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2015 Russian supply ship launched to International Space Station MOSCOW: A Russian booster rocket yesterday tion. On April 28, a Russian Progress capsule successfully launched an unmanned cargo ship failed to separate properly from the upper-stage to the International Space Station, whose crew is of its Soyuz launcher, dooming the mission. anxiously awaiting it after the successive failures Unable to reach its intended orbit, the capsule of two previous supply missions. incinerated as it re-entered the atmosphere on A Soyuz-U rocket blasted off flawlessly from May 8. Another launch accident on Oct. 28 by Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Orbital ATK destroyed a Cygnus cargo capsule Kazakhstan, placing the Progress M-28M ship bound for the station, a $100 billion research into a designated orbit, safely en route to the laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) station. On Sunday, it’s set to dock at the station above Earth. A final report on that accident is currently manned by Russians Gennady Padalka still pending, said Orbital spokesman Barry and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA’s Scott Kelly. Beneski. The failures cast a shadow over the still The ship is carrying 2.4 metric tons of fuel, emerging space transport industry, but experts oxygen, water, food and other supplies for the said they had not exposed any fundamental crew, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. flaws. The accidents, involving three different The previous Progress launch in April ended in rockets, had nothing in common “other than it’s failure, and on Sunday a US supply mission space, and it’s difficult to go fly,” NASA Associate failed too when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket broke Administrator William Gerstenmaier told apart shortly after liftoff. The mishaps were pre- reporters after the SpaceX failure. The station, a ceded by last October’s launch pad failure of joint project involving 15 nations which is BAIKONUR: Russia’s Progress M-28M cargo ship blasts off from the launch pad at the Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket, also carrying staffed by a crew of six astronauts and cosmo- Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday. — AFP station cargo for NASA. nauts, currently has a four-month supply of food Despite the failures, NASA said the station is crew of three has been pushed back from late ification until experts fully understand the rea- and water, NASA said. well-stocked, with enough supplies for the crew May to late July as space officials have looked son behind April’s failure and fix the flaw. The arrival of the Russian cargo ship, and the to last at least until October. However, the trou- into the reason for the rocket failure in April. The station program has been one of a few planned launch of a Japanese HTV freighter in ble-free launch yesterday was essential for the Russian space officials eventually have traced sectors where ties haven’t been hurt by a bruis- August, should replenish the station’s pantries station program, which has exclusively relied on the failure to a leak from fuel and oxidizer tanks ing Russia-West showdown over the crisis in through the end of the year, NASA said. Russian spacecraft for ferrying crews after the in the booster’s third stage, which they said was Ukraine. Friday’s successful launch clears the way for grounding of the US shuttle fleet. caused by a yet unspecified flaw in the interface Yesterday’s liftoff came five days after a three new crew members to fly to the station SpaceX still hopes to meet the target of between the cargo ship and the latest Soyuz SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded after launch later this month. NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, launching astronauts from US soil again aboard modification, called Soyuz 2. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and the Falcon-Dragon combination in December The Soyuz-U rocket used yesterday is an old- The accident destroyed a Dragon capsule carry- Japan’s Kimiya Yui had been preparing for a 2017, which would allow NASA to stop buying er sub-type of the rocket, which has been the ing about 5,000 (2,200 kg) pounds of food, sci- May 26 blastoff, but Russia delayed the flight seats from Russia to get astronauts to the space workhorse of Soviet and Russian space pro- ence experiments and equipment, including a while engineers analyzed the Soyuz rocket lab. The Soyuz rocket is used to propel both grams for nearly half-a-century. Last month, the docking system for two new space taxis under problem. The booster that botched the April Soyuz manned spacecraft and Progress cargo Interfax news agency reported that the Russian development by SpaceX and Boeing. cargo ship is similar to one used to fly the ships to orbit, so the launch of the station’s next space agency will only be using that Soyuz mod- The cause of the accident is under investiga- Russian Soyuz crew capsules. — Agencies.