Russian space agency Roscosmos believes that some fragments of it are out of control Russian Progress cargo ship is expected to enter the earth’s atmosphere and may crash to Earth on Friday.
Roscosmos claims most of the Progress spaceship will burn up in the atmosphere, as is the case with all space cargo carriers once they have delivered their shipments to the International Space Station (ISS).
But there is a chance that some small parts will crash on to land – although no one knows where or when these fragments will hit. NASA reported that a video camera on Progress showed it to be spinning at a ‘rather significant rate.’
Progress 59 the spaceship in question was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome located in Kazakhstan on April 28 and was carrying 3 tons of supplies for the crew on ISS. But the ship spun out of control and the engineers failed to direct the boat to its destination.
On Wednesday afternoon Roscosmos radar has located the ship over the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Australia moving on the northeast trajectory, according to CBS reports. However, it is not clear where the spaceship is going to land on earth as it moves closer to the earth’s atmosphere. Upon re-entering the atmosphere, the ship will burn up. However, some fragments could reach the land.
All of Russia’s Progress ships end their mission by re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. Under the reasonable condition, the timing of re-entry is maintained by ground control staff, so the remnants don’t fall on populated areas. But as this ship is out of control, there is uncertainty to what fragments will fall, when and where.