Lost “Progress” lucky fruits for new year’s table of the astronauts – Вести.Ru

Department of defense joined the search for the wreckage of a cargo spacecraft “Progress” in Tuva, which crashed the night before. The military inspected the territory around the four settlements. Traces of the ship is yet to be found.

the search for the wreckage of “Progress” in Tuva continues. On the eve of the operative group of firemen examined the prospective impact area of the ship, but no trace was found. According to the Roscosmos, the spacecraft crashed over a deserted area in 60 km from Kyzyl. Most of the fragments would burn up in the atmosphere, but some pieces still floated to the ground.

the Network has already appeared the footage of the accident captured by a surveillance camera. They confirmed by the testimony of eyewitnesses. On Wednesday evening they watched in the sky a bright light, which initially took over the “shooting star”. All this, according to local residents, accompanied by a roar. Information on victims and destructions did not arrive. Now the search area is decided to extend the wreckage looking for, including with the help of drones.

the State Commission has already started investigation of causes of accident. Covers all versions, including negligence committed during the Assembly of the engine. The fact that communication with the ship was lost at 383 seconds at an altitude of 190 kilometers, just at the time of the third stage of the power plant. According to the source in space, perhaps, problems have arisen with the combustion chamber: either it has got debris or violations were committed at the stage of Assembly.

the RD-0110 used in the launch vehicles “Soyuz-U” produces the Voronezh design Bureau Khimavtomatika. For a full analysis of the incident specialists to simulate on the stand of the powerplant: this experiment will show which component could fail. Most likely, before the panel’s final verdict, the flight of “Soyuz-U” will be suspended. And for the next launch of “Progress,” which is scheduled for early 2017, will have to use the launcher of another type.

Over the past five years is the third Russian spacecraft that was lost due to technical problems. In 2011, the same “Soyuz-U” failed to launch “Progress M-12M”. The reason was then called the blockage of the path of feed of fuel in the engine RD-0110. Marriage in the production was ruled accidental. In April last year “the Union” with the “Progress” section in the emergency mode. As a result, the ship descended from orbit and burned up in the atmosphere. The Commission engaged in the investigation of the crash found shortcomings in the research and development works in preparation for the start.

At the same time, “Soyuz-U” is one of the most popular and reliable launch vehicles. Just more than 40-year history of its use was made 787 launches, of which only 21 of the emergency.

Launched on the eve of “Progress” was to deliver to the International space station about two and a half tons of cargo: fuel, air, food, including fruits for new year’s table of the astronauts as well as equipment and materials for research and experiments in orbit. However, as stated in the Russian Federal space Agency and NASA, the loss of the ship would not affect the viability of the crew – they provided everything needed for a long time.