Russian space officials Friday were investigating the cause of how contact was lost with a Soyuz space capsule for hours, while insisting that there had been "no danger" to the crew, according to dpa. The space authorities had disclosed late Thursday the loss of contact with the Soyuz carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) after the capsule was launched on Wednesday. The Soyuz, carrying US astronaut Catherine "Cady" Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, is due to dock with the ISS later Friday. "The crew was in no danger and is in no danger," a spokesman for the ground control near Moscow said, according to Interfax. They will join fellow expedition members Scott Kelly of the US and Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka of Russia, who have been living on the ISS since October. Ground controllers had lost contact with the Soyuz on Thursday and also could not pinpoint the exact location of the ISS, having to ask US colleagues at NASA for help. Damage to a sensitive fiber optic system was likely to blame for the communications problems. An unnamed official said such loss of contact problems crop up occasionally but as a rule they last only a brief time.
