Russians are feeling pretty gloomy after spending days trying to contact a spacecraft aimlessly orbiting Earth. The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was destined for one of Mars’ moons. As we reported earlier this week, it was supposed to scoop up some rocks and return home with its specimens, but one of its boosters failed to ignite and now its stuck.
RIA Novosti, Russia’s official international news outlet, said scientists have been trying to reconnect with the spacecraft to no avail.
“The spacecraft repeatedly passed over the Baikonur station and other Russian and foreign points of space communications during the night. There is no news yet,” RIA Novosti reports a a Russian space program spokesman said.