“After the launch of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle along with the Progress MS-04 cargo spacecraft, telemetry connection was lost on the 383th second of flight,” Roscosmos said in a statement.
The data received from the spacecraft is not enough to say clearly what went wrong with the Progress MS-04 during the separation of the rocket’s third stage, NASA also said.
The navigation equipment of Progress did open, but there is no information whether its solar batteries are functioning properly, the US space agency added.
The Progress craft managed to reach an interim orbit, but its coordinates are yet to be established, according to the US space agency.
Russian news agency sources, however, are not optimistic about the possible outcome and speculate the spacecraft may have already crashed. There is no official confirmation of that.
The cargo spacecraft was expected to deliver 2.6 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 50 aboard to the ISS. It took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhastan at 9:51am EST (8:51pm local time).
[rt.com]
1/12/16
Russia’s cargo spacecraft Progress MS-04, which developed telemetry transmission problems shortly after blastoff, may have already crashed in China or in the Pacific Ocean, a source in the space rocket industry has told TASS.
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