Russian spaceship fails to dock with space station
JUL 25, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026196
New York Times : A Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress-M, failed to dock with the International Space Station on Tuesday when the craft’s new autopilot malfunctioned. The setback was not serious, however, as Progress-M had already docked once and unloaded its supplies. The second attempt was a practice run with the new hardware. If a third attempt on Sunday fails, the craft will return to Earth, where engineers will work to solve the problem. Tuesday’s glitch is the latest in a string of problems suffered recently by Russian spacecraft. The crash of a Russian rocket last summer worried the US, especially because NASA astronauts have flown on similar rockets to reach the space station.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
