12 May 2015 18:04

Preliminary cause of Progress breakdown loss of pressure in fuel, oxidizer tanks - Roscosmos chief

MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The cause of the failed launch of the Progress M-27M ship was a loss of pressure in the engines of the launch vehicle's third stage, Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) chief Igor Komarov said.

"As a result of the work by the State Commission, telemetric data has been gathered which confirmed the out-of-control release that included two subsequent releases due to a loss of pressure, i.e. an opening first of an oxidizer tank and then the rocket third stage's fuel tank after the rocket's third stage propulsion units were switched off," Komarov said at a briefing commenting on the results of the state commission which probed the situation around the Progress M-27M transport cargo spacecraft.