Unmanned Russian supply ship burns up on re-entry

MOSCOW/VLADIVOSTOK - An unmanned supply spacecraft burned up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, a week after it suffered a communications failure, the Russian space agency said.

"The Progress M-27M spacecraft ceased to exist at 05:04 Moscow time (0204 GMT) on May 8, 2015," Roscosmos said in a statement.

"It entered the atmosphere ... over the central part of the Pacific Ocean," the statement said.

The Progress M-27M, launched by a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on April 28, was planned to dock with the International Space Station six hours after the blast-off.

However, the mission failed as the spacecraft went into an uncontrolled spin in the space and eventually kept dropping in orbit.

Last Wednesday, Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov said a special commission had been set up to investigate the causes of the incident, while a report on their findings is expected by the end of May.

The resupply vehicle was carrying about 2.5 tons of cargo, including fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment.