New
York Times: A Russian cargo spacecraft,
Progress-M, failed to dock with the International
Space Station on Tuesday when the craft's new autopilot
malfunctioned. The setback was not serious, however, as
Progress-M had already docked once and unloaded its
supplies. The second attempt was a practice run with the new
hardware. If a third attempt on Sunday fails, the craft will
return to Earth, where engineers will work to solve the
problem. Tuesday's glitch is the latest in a string of problems
suffered recently by Russian spacecraft. The crash of a Russian
rocket last summer worried the US, especially because NASA
astronauts have flown on similar rockets to reach the space
station.
