Contact with cargo space ship headed for ISS lost; reported to have crashed in Siberia

The unmanned cargo spacecraft pictured during take-off today. (Image courtesy: NASA/YouTube)

Moscow: As per reports in the Daily Mail, Russia's unmanned cargo ship crashed somewhere in Siberia after Russia lost contact with it 383 seconds after its launch.

The cargo ship was en route to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) when the incident took place and was supposed to arrive at the ISS on Saturday.

The spacecraft that was carrying food, rocket fuel and oxygen tanks, lost contact with control and an explosion was reported near Biysk, in Siberia, around the time the spacecraft disappeared.

The Expedition 50 crew was informed of the Progress 65 mission’s status and are safe aboard the station. Consumables aboard the station are at good levels.

"Communication was lost today 383 seconds after the launch of the Soyuz-U carrier rocket with the cargo ship Progress MS-04," space agency Roscosmos said in a statement, adding that its specialists were looking into the problem.

A Progress cargo ship launch failed in April 2015. The failure, which Russia blamed on a problem in a Soyuz rocket, saw the ship disintegrate as it plummeted to Earth.

The incident forced Russia to put all space travel on hold for nearly three months.

Russia sends three or four such spacecraft every year to supply the ISS.

Last month Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and American astronaut Peggy Whitson launched to the ISS for a six-month mission.

Sightings of the falling spacecraft were reported over Biysk, in southern Russia. Check out the pic below:

(Image courtesy: Russian space web)

(With AFP inputs)