MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – The Foton-M science satellite, launched on July 19, is currently on a nonintended orbit, with the spacecraft’s engines unable to start, Mission Control Center at Russia's Federal Space Agency told RIA Novosti.
“The objectives of the MCC do not includehealth assessment of the living organisms on board the Foton, so the status of geckos, fruit flies, silkworm eggs, mushrooms and seeds of higher plants is unknown to us,” the representative said.
The Foton-M satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a mission to study the effect of weightlessness on plants and insects, and to conduct experiments on the growth of semiconductor crystals.
