Russia’s space agency has lost contact with a Progress cargo resupply spacecraft more than six minutes into its flight to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.The spacecraft took off aboard a Soyuz rocket at normal conditions before it encountered an anomaly during third stage operation based on telemetry data reported by Russian flight controllers, NASA said Thursday.
NASA adds that the six-crew members aboard the ISS remain safe as the Russian and U.S. segments of the station maintain normal operations with sufficient supplies.
Russia has also created a team to investigate the missing spacecraft and identify the cause of failure.
The spacecraft carried food, propellants, oxygen supply, water, spare parts, supplies and scientific experiment hardware for the space station crew, with no supplies critical to the operations of the station’s U.S. segment, NASA says.
The next mission is to transport an H-II Transfer Vehicle-6 from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Dec. 9 to ferry cargo to the station.
