Although the ship is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, some bits and pieces of it could fall on Earth

May 7, 2015 08:55 GMT  ·  By

A little over a week ago, on April 28, a Soyuz rocket carrying a cargo ship meant for the International Space Station blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A few minutes after the launch, which happened at 1:09 p.m. local time, the Soyuz rocket and the cargo ship parted ways. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite as planned.

The ship was lost, will soon fall back to Earth

Rather than reach the International Space Station, the cargo ship experienced a technical failure of sorts and started spinning out of control. Besides, mission scientists lost contact with it.

The spacecraft has been aimlessly circling our planet ever since. Come Friday, May 8, researchers with Russia's space agency Roscosmos expect it will head back to Earth, DPA informs.

True, the cargo ship will ignite and burn up when it enters the planet's atmosphere. Even so, scientists fear pieces of it could hit our planet, but when and where such impacts might happen remains a mystery.

“The space ship will completely burn up in the layers of the atmosphere and only a few small parts of elements of its construction could reach the surface of our planet,” Roscosmos said.

The cargo ship is carrying a whole lot of supplies

This cargo ship that got lost in space this past April 28 is carrying about 3 tons of water, food, oxygen, propellant and other supplies, all intended for astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

By the looks of it, the crew can do without these supplies until June, when another resupply services mission is scheduled to take place. This June mission will deliver a 1.5-ton cargo.

In a statement released shortly after Russia lost control of the cargo ship, NASA stressed that the loss of this spacecraft would not in any way affect activities on the International Space Station.

“Both the Russian and US operating segments of the station continue to operate normally and are adequately supplied well beyond the next planned resupply flight,” the space agency said.