Stranded in Space? Astronauts’ return to Earth could be delayed by a month

Three crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are waiting to find out when they can return to Earth following the spectacular failure of an unmanned supply ship.

Twitter picture posted by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of espresso in space. Image by Courtesy of @AstroSamantha

Terry Virts, from the United States, Anton Shkaplerov, from Russia and Samantha Cristoforetti, from Italy were due to come home this week after spending six months in space.

Now it has been reported that they may have to wait another month before being reunited with their families and friends on Earth.

If this turns out to be the case Ms Cristoforetti will have clocked up the longest space mission ever undertaken by a woman, according to the Russian cosmonautics website Novosti Kosmonavtiki.

The previous 195-day record was set by US ISS astronaut Suni Williams between December 2006 and June 2007.

The hold-up is said to be due to the loss of the Progress M-27M cargo ship that went into an uncontrolled spin and burned up in the atmosphere three days ago.

Launched on April 28, it was carrying 2.5 tonnes of fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment to the ISS.

The Russian federal space agency Roscosmos has said that the next manned mission to the ISS, planned for May 26, may now have to be re-scheduled.

What this might mean for the current crew remains unclear.

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Korniyenko, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, gesture as they walk to a bus from a hotel prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Image by (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

A spokeswoman for the American space agency Nasa said “nothing official” had yet been decided. She added: “The Russian space agency has formed a commission to assess the root cause of the failure with Progress 59. We will know more this week after they have conducted their investigation.”

The current ISS mission, Expedition 43, has six crew members including Virts, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti, whose return to Earth will mark its completion.

Two of the crew, Russian Mikhail Korniyenko and American Scott Kelly, are taking part in an extended one year mission and will also be part of Expeditions 44,45 and 46.

Gennady Padalka, from Russia, boarded the space station in March as the sixth crew member and will transfer to Expedition 44 when Expedition 43 ends.

Fighter pilot Ms Cristoforetti took a flavour of her native Italy with her when she joined the ISS in November last year – the first Espresso coffee maker in space.

The machine, built by the Italian Space Agency, engineering firm Argotec and coffee company Lavazza, required special technology to overcome the hazards of boiling water spillages in microgravity conditions and coffee grounds getting into sensitive electronic equipment.

Ms Cristoforetti has been pictured savouring real coffee from a specially designed microgravity cup.

British astronaut Tim Peake is due to start a six month spell on the ISS in November this year.

(Press Association)