A supply-filled Russian space freighter zoomed by the International Space Station today after its automatic rendezvous and docking system failed to lock on to the frontier outpost.Launched Wednesday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Progress 38 spacecraft was about to begin the final stage of its rendezvous with the station when its Kurs automatic docking system failed to link up with counterpart equipment on the back end of the Russian Zvezda Service Module.
The loss of telemetry resulted in the spacecraft, loaded with 2.5 tons of supplies and equipment, to glide by the space station rather than make an anticipated final approach to the outpost.
"The Progress literally flew past the International Space Station, but at a very safe distance," NASA mission commentator Rob Navias said from the U.S. Mission Control Center in Houston.
Navias said the spacecraft was about three kilometers away from the station when it passed by.
Flight controllers at the Russian Mission Control Center were trying to determine the cause of the telemetry loss, which occurred about 25 minutes before a planned 12:58 p.m. docking.
The spacecraft headed out in front of the station is continued to fly further away from the outpost.
Navias said the supplies onboard Progress are not considered critical to station operations. Another one of the craft is docked at the station now.
It's unclear when the next docking attempt might be made. But it's unlikely another try will be made today.
28 comments:
If the telemetry loss occurred during the final moments of docking, could that lead to a collision?
Thank God they weren't carrying any Astronauts!!
Well get used to this since we cancelled Constellation for Homebuilt rocketeers and are sending the Shuttles to museums.Perhaps after catching the Russian spies Putin will just tell us to get lost and keep the station for Russia since we cannot get there on our own and now owe them to get us there .Who could imagine this much damage in only 18 Months with the Dems running everything (into the ground that is)
Now that we can no longer count on the Shuttle and Constellation is cancelled , we depend on homebuilt rocketeers to get us there ,Ha ,joke on us. Now with the spies from Russia being captured perhaps Putin will refuse to ride our astronauts to the station and take it for Russia ,All this in only 18 months of Democratic control.
Watch, this will be made to sound if it is no big deal in the blink of an eye.
This is no big deal.
yes sir, We are going to rely on the Russians.
Will Obama change his mind again?
Well, we were through with the space station anyway, wern't we? Wasn't the whole purpose just to see if we could build it?
2:13 PM -see!!! I told ya so!! :)
Lost in Space??
....and so it begins.
GOOD..WE NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THIS SPACE STUFF ANYWAY..LET THE RUSSIANS HAVE IT....WHO CARES A BIG WASTE OF MONEY...
Obama does not have a mind to change.....
What mind? Is a teleprompter a mind?
We are relying on the Russians because the Bush Administration decided that in 2004. Bush's Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that Shuttle's design was inherently unsafe, so in January 2004 Bush ordered Shuttle's cancellation in 2010 as soon as the ISS was finished.
Within days, then-NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was negotiating the contract with the Russians to fly U.S. astronauts on Soyuz once Shuttle retired.
This has been coming for six years. NASA has spent the last six years shutting down Shuttle suppliers specifically to comply with the Bush directive. It's amazing how certain people try to rewrite history by claiming it was Obama's decision when in fact it was made by Bush more than six years ago.
@1:36...bet you wished it would have slammed into the space station. You could have used that.
Mr. Smith. Yes, everyone knew the shuttle program was ending. Very good. Even if you didn't/don't support the constellation program, it was something that had already been started. In theory the gap would have been shorter between the retirement of the shuttle and our returned to manned space flight (assuming it would have been funded as it should have been, not as it was). Keep in mind, Mr. Obama campaigned on speeding up constellation AND not relying on the Russians.
Now we have no solid plans...no manned space capabilities of our own. Instead we must rely on a country that at one time were our sworn enemies. While I would like the world to be rainbows and unicorns...world politics do not hold to promises and we have nothing in the near future to fall back on.
And 3:04 PM - your right...who needs it anyhow. (feel better now, you got some attention??)
We cannot trust the Russians. Due to Obama and the democrats
we are in a mess with our Space Program and our economy.
Obama is destroying America.
The shuttles are flying only twice more, thats IT! ,Bush would have extended them to Constellations coming online.We are shooting ourselves in the foot of our greatest achievment.The Shuttles had to go sooner or later but Constellation could have been finished,accelerated ,Now we got Larry Lightbulb rockets by homebuilders! watch next we will BUY them from Russia after we blow up a couple of the lightbulb rockets .
what ever
I love how folks whine about cancellation of shuttle. It wasn't designed to take us out of LEP and we needed to move on (you Obama-huggers oughta like that).
Instead of fixing Constellation Obama is cancelling everything and you Koolaiders are falling for it hook line and sinker.
oops! (In Russian)
I don't recall reading here that Obama canceled the shuttle program. Did someone say that? He canceled the replacement. Now we got nothing.
What, Me worry. My names Owe-Bama and I aim to ruin the world.
Stephen C Smith: It sounds to me that you like to believe only certain facts. Ever since you started posting blogs you sound like you are an avid Obama supporter and/or a SpaceX lobbyist. Wasnt it Obama that promised to not rely on the Russians and continue support of Constellation? That was one of his campaign promises he decided to break...Get YOUR facts straight!!!
You're wrong Stephen C. Smith. Bush could not cancel something that happens in the future. All he could do was recommend the shuttle ends. But as he is not the president, he cannot cancel it. Obama is the sitting president. He can either take Bush's recommendation, or do the right thing and continue the program.
You really need to invest some of your time and take Politics 101 before making comments like that.
Anonymous said...
"Thank God they weren't carrying any Astronauts!!"
Quite the opposite in my opinion. There should be a human aboard as backup to the autonomous system until it is demonstrated that the autonomous system works properly.
No, you're wrong at 11:42. When Bush and NASA decided 6 years ago that the shuttle program would be shutting down, the processing of external tanks and other equipment needed to launch the shuttles began to be phased out. By the time Obama came into office, there were only about 7 or 8 shuttle missions left, and there was no more equipment or funding to extend the program.
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