Attempts fail to contact Russian spacecraft

Moscow, April 29: Russia said on Wednesday that attempts to contact an unmanned Progress spacecraft have so far been unsuccessful, raising fears the vessel could be lost for good.

“There have been no improvements,” a mission control spokesman told AFP, adding that the spacecraft was still circling the Earth. A Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress M-27M spacecraft with supplies for the International Space Station successfully launched on Tuesday but communication with the vessel was lost soon afterwards. The controllers had opted to change the flight plan and extend the vessel's journey to two days instead of six hours in a bid to fix the glitch. The mission control spokesman said a decision on the spacecraft's fate would likely be announced later in the day.