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Reports: Out-of-Control Spacecraft Is Plunging Back to Earth

The Russian ISS-bound craft may be heading back home.
​An earlier ISS Progress capsule, successfully docked. Image: ​NASA

​ Remember that Russian cargo spacecraft that started spinning o​ut of control yesterday? According to some reports, it may now be taking a plunge back to Earth.

A tweet from news agency  Agence Fr​ance-Presse this morning reported that the unmanned craft was "plunging to Earth."

#BREAKING Unmanned Russian spacecraft plunging to Earth: official

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) April 29, 2015

Speaking anonymously  ​to the Guardian, an official apparently familiar with the situation confirmed that, "It has started descending. It has nowhere else to go."

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The spacecraft is the ISS Progress 59 capsule, which was headed to the International Space Station with supplies. The launch on a Soyuz rocket on Tuesday initially went fine, but after problems with the telemetry systems the flight controllers had to abandon their plans to dock with the ISS. Yesterday, video footage emerged of the craft spinning around like crazy as it orbited the Earth.

While the team initially hoped to regain control for a docking attempt on Thursday, last night they put that idea aside, having been unable to solve the issue. In its  last update on Tuesd​ay, NASA said that "Russian flight controllers are continuing attempts to communicate with and troubleshoot issues with the Russian Progress 59 cargo spacecraft as it makes additional passes tonight over Russian ground stations."

It looks like those efforts may have been in vain; an official statement on the status of the troubled spacecraft is expected later today.

Wired explai​ns that a plunge back to Earth is inevitable if things remain as they are: The ship won't be able to use its solar panels if it can't get out of the spin it's in, which means it will run out of power and head back down, though it states that "Roscosmos has at least a few days before that becomes a realistic threat, but estimates vary."

As for the astronauts aboard the ISS, they'll manage without the resupply mission as none of the supplies were critical before the next cargo delivery. We'll update this story as more details emerge.