Russian ISS cargo ship fails to reach orbit

A unmanned Russian cargo ship bound for the International Space Station failed to reach orbit after a problem during its launch Thursday morning from Kazakhstan.

The Progress 65 ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz-U rocket at 9:51 a.m. EST and the early flight went as planned.

But something went wrong during the firing of the rocket's third and final stage before the spacecraft was put in orbit, NASA confirmed.

The third stage may have separated too early, a NASA TV commentator said, and the flow of telemetry to the ground became choppy.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, later reported that it had lost contact with the Progress, and then that the ship had fallen back through the atmosphere "above the rugged uninhabited mountainous territory of the Republic of Tyva, and most of the fragments were burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere."

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The agency said the launch failure would not affect space station operations.

NASA said the Progress was not carrying any critical U.S. supplies, that the station's six-person crew was safe and that food, water and other essential supplies "are at good levels." The crew includes veteran NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, commander of the current Expedition 50, and Peggy Whitson.

A Japanese cargo ship is scheduled to launch Dec. 9.

The lost Progress mission is the latest in a series of challenges to keeping the station supplied over the past two years. NASA and its partners have kept the outpost fully staffed despite multiple launch failures by three different rockets since late 2014.

SpaceX remains grounded by a Falcon 9 rocket explosion in September, but plans to return to flight later this month, hopefully allowing it to return to NASA's resupply rotation early next year. Another Falcon 9 failed in June 2015 on an ISS supply mission.

Orbital ATK recently returned its Antares rocket to flight with a successful flight of a Cygnus cargo craft to the station. It was the first Antares mission in two years, after an engine failure doomed the previous flight seconds after liftoff from Virginia.

Another Cygnus is targeting a March launch from Florida on an Atlas V rocket.

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The Progress also suffered a launch failure in April 2015.

The spacecraft launched Thursday morning was carrying more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies.

"Not a great day, but not a grim day either," Ed Van Cise, a NASA flight controller, said on Twitter. "Impacts 4 sure but advance planning and logistics positioning helps weather this. Space is hard!"

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.