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Causes of accident with Russian defunct spacecraft not established yet — deputy PM

The rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than required to dock with the International Space Station

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. The cause of the accident with the Russian Progress M-27M spacecraft has not been established yet, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told journalists on Friday.

"Not yet," he said, answering a question on whether causes of the accident had been established.

The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on a Soyuz carrier rocket on April 28 from the Baikonur space center Russia leases from Kazakhstan. The rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than required to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get control of the spacecraft, experts gave up the idea.

Earlier, Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, reported that the spacecraft had lost the near-Earth orbit and burned in dense atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean at 05.04am Moscow time on Friday, May 8.

The results of the investigation into the causes of the accident will be submitted not later than May 13. The Progress was carrying food, oxygen and other cargos to the ISS crew.

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