Russian spacecraft Progress M-27M 'out of control'

A Russian spacecraft delivering supplies to the International Space Station is out of control and may head back to Earth, officials say.

The unmanned cargo ship launched from Kazakhstan on Tuesday, but contact was lost with it soon afterwards.

The Russian news agency Tass reports that Progress M-27M is now orbiting in an uncontrolled spin.

Scientists may try again to control it, but it is now likely to break up on re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

A spokesman for mission control told Russia's Interfax news agency the craft carried on to a higher orbit after contact was lost, meaning it is now unable to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

The spokesman said: "The possibility of the craft linking up with the ISS is now not worth it. The main thing now is to ensure its controlled and safe de-orbiting."

Two astronauts spending a year on the ISS, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, told the Associated Press news agency that flight controllers had given up hope of controlling Progress again.

Mr Kelly told AP he expected the capsule to burn up in the atmosphere, but said he did not know when that would happen.

Interfax reports that Progress is likely to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in the coming hours if communication is not restored.

When a large European Space Agency satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere in November 2013, it burned up and broke into smaller pieces that posed no danger to Earth's population.

Last year, another Progress craft left the ISS after delivering supplies and was, Nasa says, "commanded to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere... and disintegrate harmlessly".

The main question now is whether anyone is able to predict where and how Progress will come down to Earth.

Progress has been a workhorse of the Russian space programme since 1978 and has had a largely blemish-free record.

But the failure of the current mission is another embarrassment for the Russian space programme, that has lost several valuable space craft and satellites over the past four years.

Progress was to deliver food, water, fuel, oxygen and clothing to the crew of six people on the space station, that orbits about 420km (250 miles) above Earth.

The astronauts have enough supplies to keep them going until the next expected delivery on 19 June, even if Progress is lost.

One unnamed space industry official told Interfax the loss could be worth five billion roubles ($97m; £63m), but that insurance companies had not yet been told that the Progress was definitively lost.