The recent failure of the Progress 59 resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) has resulted in a delay of ISS crew members to the Earth.
On April 28 this year, the Russian spacecraft was launched atop the Soyuz rocket by the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Progress 59 was carrying equipment, oxygen and food for the ISS crew members. However, the spacecraft went out of control soon after launch.
Scientists confirmed that the spacecraft was not manoeuvrable and will fall back on the Earth. On May 7, at 10:04 p.m. EDT, the spacecraft finally entered the Earth's atmosphere over the central Pacific Ocean and burned.
Igor Komarov, the chief of Roscosmos, revealed that the Progress 59 went out of control due to fuel tank leaks in the Soyuz rocket. The freighter did not have any glitch.
The failure of the mission has left some astronauts stranded at the ISS for longer period of time and their homecoming has been delayed. Terry Virts of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) were scheduled to leave the space station on May 13. However, they are not expected to return back to the Earth in early June. An exact date for the return of the astronauts will be released by Roscosmos soon.
"The postponement has occurred because the Russian space agency's Progress 59 freighter failed to arrive at the Station last week, instead burning up in the atmosphere in an uncontrolled re-entry," ESA stated.
All the three astronauts reached the ISS on November 24 and are part of the Expedition 43 mission. The delay has also resulted in reschedule of the Expedition 44 mission, which was expected in May but it will now launch in July.
"The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 44's Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will launch in late July from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan," said NASA.
NASA also revealed that Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress 60, is scheduled to launch from the Earth with food, oxygen and supplies in early July. The failure of Progress 59 has resulted in rescheduling of futures missions to the space station; however, the ISS has sufficient supplies that can support crews even until the fall of this year.
