Moscow - The Russian cargo ship Progress has failed to successfully dock with the International Space Station (ISS) during tests designed to facilitate future dockings, the US and Russian space agencies said on Tuesday.
“The re-docking of the Russian ISS Progress 47 resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station has been postponed due to an apparent failure in the new Kurs-NA rendezvous system,” Nasa said in a statement on its website.
A spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Centre confirmed to AFP that the the cargo ship known as Progress M-15M had failed to dock, without providing further details.
Nasa said the cargo ship was now at a safe distance from the ISS and the next docking attempt could occur on Saturday or Sunday.
“Progress 47 flew approximately 1.8 miles below the station to a safe distance away from the orbiting outpost, where it will remain until another attempt is made to re-rendezvous with the space station,” Nasa said.
The vehicle had undocked from the station on Sunday to perform tests to faciliate future dockings of cargo ships to the space station. - Sapa-AFP