Russia determines Soyuz crash cause

A manufacturing defect led to the August 24 crash of a Russian supply ship for the International Space Station, a special commission investigating the incident has said. The commission concluded that the manufacturing flaw was "accidental."

A manufacturing defect led to the August 24 crash of a Russian supply ship for the International Space Station, a special commission investigating the incident has said. The commission concluded that the manufacturing flaw was "accidental."

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"A clogged fuel supply pipe caused the engine failure, the commission discovered, describing the defect as "accidental," Roscosmos said on its website. The commission recommended introducing additional control procedures to ensure that other similar engines do not have same defects.

RIA Novosti noted that the failure of Soyuz rocket engine failure resulted in the first ever loss of a Progress freighter in the history of Russia's space industry. The freighter failed to separate from the rocket and fell in South Siberia's Altai Republic.

The Soyuz SLV failure has impacted the schedule of spacecraft to the ISS as after the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet it remains the only alternative for sending crews on missions for which NASA is paying annually over USD 1 billion to Russia for ferrying American crews over the next four years.