Russia's last analogue space freighter 'buried' in Pacific
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's last cargo spaceship with an analogue control system plunged on Sunday into a "spaceship cemetery" in the southern Pacific, the Russian Mission Control said.
"Fragments of the Progress M-67 space freighter with waste material from the International Space Station (ISS) drowned at about 14.20 Moscow time [10.20 GMT]...several thousand kilometers to the east of New Zealand," space officials said.
Progress M-67, which arrived at the ISS on July 29 bringing 2.5 tons of supplies, including fuel, water and various equipment, undocked from the orbital station on September 21.
During its automatic flight, the craft was used as a laboratory to conduct a series of geophysical experiments under the Plasma-Progress program.
Progress-series freighters have been the backbone of the Russian space cargo fleet for decades. In addition to their main mission as cargo spacecraft, they are used to adjust the ISS orbit and conduct scientific experiments.