The irony of “Progress”

A Russian spacecraft, ironically named “Progress,” has been incinerated upon its reentry into the atmosphere. Whatever small pieces of the craft that had survived fell into the Pacific Ocean around 2:04 UTC time on Friday, May 8. It had been stuck in orbit around the earth for several days beforehand, having launched on April 28. The cost of the failed mission was about $51 million in food and supplies.

Progress was launched as a cargo run ship for the ISS, the International Space Station. The ISS is a space station in orbit above the earth that hosts the longest-running program for humans in orbit. The spacecraft was created as a cargo ship, bringing these few scientists a fresh supply of food. Because of this those in the ISS will now have to deal with a lack of supplies for a while, but measures have already been put in place previously to cope with this sort of error so they will not starve or go without.

It is speculated that the problems with Progress began during entry into orbit, where it began to spin and could not be brought under control. It floated in orbit for several days before re-entering the atmosphere in a fiery blaze. Luckily, the craft was unmanned, and the event resulted in no deaths or injuries (other than soreness about the sudden loss of the few million dollar investment). The next crewed launch has been pushed back two months in an attempt to ensure a similar accident does not happen when actual lives are on the line. With any luck, some significant “progress” will be made with the next shuttle and all will be well again on board the ISS.

Works Cited:

http://www.space.com/29411-russian-cargo-spaceship-crash-soyuz-rocket.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_M-34

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/whats-going-happen-progress-spacecraft/