--- title: Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Has Problems description: The ISS and its crew are fine canonical: https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T19:44:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:19.499Z article:section: Science og:title: Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Encounters Problems og:description: The ISS and its crew are fine og:url: https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce025f6220411983/6987ed4af887dc2674e8e328/soyuz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Progress M-27M cargo ship launched from Baikonur cosmodrome og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Encounters Problems twitter:description: The ISS and its crew are fine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce025f6220411983/6987ed4af887dc2674e8e328/soyuz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Encounters Problems ## Video: A Year in Space: The Mission [Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space: The Mission](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gEqrnCPI.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2015-03-24. On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. Time follows Kelly and his twin brother, Mark, as they work the test the boundaries of long-term space travel._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 28, 2015 7:44 PM UTC  A Russian Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle carrying a Progress M-27M cargo ship lifts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on April 28, 2015. A Russian Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle carrying a Progress M-27M cargo ship lifts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on April 28, 2015.Roscosmos/EPA by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 28, 2015 7:44 PM UTC A spacecraft en route to deliver 6,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station experienced difficulties after taking off and losing communication with Russian flight controllers. The Progress 59 Cargo Craft, containing food, fuel, water and spare parts, launched on a Soyuz rocket Tuesday morning, but a problem occurred that prevented controllers from knowing whether navigational antennae had deployed as planned, and whether the fuel system had properly pressurized. [NASA](https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2015/04/28/progress-59-cargo-craft-updates/) said the controllers decided to delay the spacecraft’s planned contact with the ISS in two days until the situation is better understood. In the meantime, the six ISS crew members are safe and have enough supplies to last them beyond their next planned delivery, a SpaceX mission scheduled for no earlier than June 19. In 2011, the Russian Federal Space Agency also lost a Progress spacecraft shortly after liftoff when it failed to make it into orbit. That incident marked the first failure of a Progress spacecraft since launches began in 1978. The complications with the resupply mission come as Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko pass the one-month mark in their yearlong mission aboard the ISS. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/"},"headline":"Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Encounters Problems","datePublished":"2015-04-28T19:44:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:19.499Z","description":"The ISS and its crew are fine","url":"https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/","keywords":["A Year In Space","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce025f6220411983/6987ed4af887dc2674e8e328/soyuz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce025f6220411983/6987ed4af887dc2674e8e328/soyuz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Progress M-27M cargo ship launched from Baikonur cosmodrome","caption":"The Progress M-27M cargo ship launched from Baikonur cosmodrome","creditText":"Roscosmos/EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3838851/russian-resupply-spaceship-difficulty/","name":"Supply Rocket Headed to International Space Station Encounters Problems"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space: The Mission","description":"On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. 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