Russian spacecraft burnt up on re-entering Earth's atmosphere

An out-of-control unmanned Russian spacecraft on Friday burnt as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, a media report said.

The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz carrier rocket.

"The Progress M-27M spacecraft ceased to exist on May 8, 2015. It entered the atmosphere... over the central part of the Pacific Ocean," Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos told TASS news agency.

After a communication failure, the spacecraft spiralled out of control. A commission has been set up in Russia to investigate why Progress was lost.

The rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than required to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

--IANS/TASS

ksk/pku