Russians search for crashed Spaceship

25 August 2011 - 11:49 By afprelaxnews
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An unmanned Progress M-52 (ISS-17P) spacecraft
An unmanned Progress M-52 (ISS-17P) spacecraft
Image: NASA

Russian authorities are using helicopters in their search for the wreckage of the unmanned supply ship that crashed and exploded in a forested area in Siberia.

Russia's General Prosecutor's Office said Thursday that some 40 lumberjacks were working in the thick forest of the Choisky region in Russia's Altai province where the Progress ship blew up with a thundering boom on Wednesday.

It said that "individuals gathering pine nuts" may also have been in the area where emergency workers are looking for the crash site and wreckage amid thick fog.

The ship was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan some 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) southwest of the crash site. It fell after the third stage of its booster rocket failed a few minutes into the launch.

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