Russia's Progress MS-04 spacecraft lifted off for the International Space Station Thursday (Dec. 1), but a problem may have resulted in the uncrewed cargo vehicle separating from its Soyuz U rocket earlier than planned.
The Progress spacecraft launched at 8:51:52 a.m. CST (1451 GMT; 8:51 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first minutes of the flight were normal, according to NASA.
According to Roscosmos, Russia's federal space agency, telemetry from the Progress dropped off 383 seconds into the flight, more than two minutes before orbital insertion was expected.
Flight controllers received telemetry from the spacecraft confirming it had deployed its navigation antennas, according to NASA, but they were still waiting confirmation that the vehicle's two solar arrays were deployed and if the separation from the booster's third stage occurred when planned.
The Progress, which is packed with more than two and a half tons of food, fuel and supplies for the space station's Expedition 50/51 crew, was scheduled to dock to the rear port of the Zvezda service module on Saturday (Dec. 3).