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It may be more serious than indicated in the AFP story. The concern is that the Kurs antenna may be in a configuration that blocks the Progress docking adapter. The Russian ISS crew is being asked to photograph the antenna, and the US crew is prepared to help. One problem is that the Cupola modules window covers are usually closed to protect them from thruster exhausts.
More meetings are scheduled before Progress arrives at the ISS, and a spacewalk may be necessary to sort things out - if possible.
More meetings are scheduled before Progress arrives at the ISS, and a spacewalk may be necessary to sort things out - if possible.
Umanned Russian spaceship suffers mishap on way to ISS
By Dmitry Zaks (AFP)
MOSCOW — An unmanned Progress spaceship racing to the International Space Station with 2.5 tonnes of cargo on board failed Wednesday to deploy a key antenna that helps it dock with the orbiting lab in the latest hitch in Russia's space programme.
The incident threatens to cast a new shadow over a once-vaunted programme that competed with the United States for space supremacy.
Russian and US space officials said the problem occurred just as the Progress settled into orbit after blasting off aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space station that Moscow leases from Kazakhstan.
"There was a problem with one of the antennae in the Kurs (Navigation) system," Vitaly Lopota, president of the Energia space corporation that designs the Russian spacecraft, told the Interfax news agency.
The US space agency NASA said in a tweet: "Once in orbit, an antenna used as a navigational aid on the Progress did not deploy. Russian ground controllers are assessing a fix."
But Lopota stressed that the Progress cargo ship could still dock to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday as planned.
"Even if the antenna fails to deploy, we will still be able to get to within 200 metres (of the ISS) and perform an automatic docking," the Energia president said.
An unnamed source at Mission Control outside Moscow told news agencies that space officials were not particularly worried about the latest mishap to affect Russia's programme.
"Such incidents have happened before," said the official.
But Russian space engineers repeatedly tried and failed to get the antenna unstuck when the Progress re-entered a stretch of its orbit in which it falls within radio contact with Mission Control.
Experts promised to keep attempting to nudge the antenna into place by sending more signals in the coming hours and possibly trying to shift the Progress vessel's rotation and angle in space.
"The antenna simply became jammed," a Mission Control representative told the RIA Novosti agency.
"We will continue trying different methods. We will be sending signals from ground telemetry stations and the space station, and turning the Progress around."
Russia's programme is being watched closely by other space powers because it remains the only nation capable of transporting humans to the ISS following the 2011 retirement of the US shuttle.
But the Roscosmos space agency has suffered from a string of problems in recent years that include the August 2011 explosion after lift-off of a Soyuz rocket carrying another unmanned Progress cargo craft.
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By Dmitry Zaks (AFP)
MOSCOW — An unmanned Progress spaceship racing to the International Space Station with 2.5 tonnes of cargo on board failed Wednesday to deploy a key antenna that helps it dock with the orbiting lab in the latest hitch in Russia's space programme.
The incident threatens to cast a new shadow over a once-vaunted programme that competed with the United States for space supremacy.
Russian and US space officials said the problem occurred just as the Progress settled into orbit after blasting off aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space station that Moscow leases from Kazakhstan.
"There was a problem with one of the antennae in the Kurs (Navigation) system," Vitaly Lopota, president of the Energia space corporation that designs the Russian spacecraft, told the Interfax news agency.
The US space agency NASA said in a tweet: "Once in orbit, an antenna used as a navigational aid on the Progress did not deploy. Russian ground controllers are assessing a fix."
But Lopota stressed that the Progress cargo ship could still dock to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday as planned.
"Even if the antenna fails to deploy, we will still be able to get to within 200 metres (of the ISS) and perform an automatic docking," the Energia president said.
An unnamed source at Mission Control outside Moscow told news agencies that space officials were not particularly worried about the latest mishap to affect Russia's programme.
"Such incidents have happened before," said the official.
But Russian space engineers repeatedly tried and failed to get the antenna unstuck when the Progress re-entered a stretch of its orbit in which it falls within radio contact with Mission Control.
Experts promised to keep attempting to nudge the antenna into place by sending more signals in the coming hours and possibly trying to shift the Progress vessel's rotation and angle in space.
"The antenna simply became jammed," a Mission Control representative told the RIA Novosti agency.
"We will continue trying different methods. We will be sending signals from ground telemetry stations and the space station, and turning the Progress around."
Russia's programme is being watched closely by other space powers because it remains the only nation capable of transporting humans to the ISS following the 2011 retirement of the US shuttle.
But the Roscosmos space agency has suffered from a string of problems in recent years that include the August 2011 explosion after lift-off of a Soyuz rocket carrying another unmanned Progress cargo craft.
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