Fragments of a Russian cargo spacecraft that undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) last week splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, mission control said.
The Progress M-19M, which arrived at the ISS on April 26 with over 2.5 tons of cargo – including food, water and oxygen for the crew – undocked on Tuesday for a weeklong flight to study the operation of its liquid-propellant engines in the ionosphere, which spans from 50 to 250 miles above the Earth’s surface.
It was deorbited after the research was concluded.
The launch of the next Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress M-20M, is scheduled for July 28 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, according to sources in the Russian space industry.
