Russian cargo ship bound for ISS destroyed after launch

CAPE CANAVERAL — An unmanned cargo ship headed to the International Space Station was destroyed about six minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan on Thursday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Twitter.

Loss of the Progress capsule, which carried more than 2 1/2 tons of food and supplies, occurred at an altitude of about 118 miles, the agency said. The cause was not immediately known.

Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred as planned at 9:51 a.m. EST, a NASA TV broadcast showed. But once the rocket’s third stage began firing, radio transmissions became garbled, leaving the fate of the Progress capsule unclear.

The cargo run had become more critical for the station since SpaceX, one of two U.S. companies flying supplies to the station for NASA, has not yet returned to flight following a Sept. 1 launchpad accident.

SpaceX is awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees U.S. commercial space transportation, to fly as early as Dec. 16 with 10 satellites owned by Iridium Communications Inc.

SpaceX’s next cargo flight for NASA is targeted for January. Orbital ATK and Japan’s space agency also fly supplies to the station, a $100 billion laboratory that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

Launch of a Japanese cargo ship is scheduled for Dec. 9.