Posted: Wed, Mar 9, 2005, 9:29 PM ET (0229 GMT)
A Progress cargo spacecraft that undocked from the International Space Station over a week ago has finally reentered, Russian officials said Wednesday. Progress M-51, filled with trash from the space station, performed a deorbit burn at 11:17 am EST (1617 GMT) and reentered about 45 minutes later. The spacecraft undocked from the ISS on February 27 to make room for a new Progress spacecraft. Normally undocking Progress spacecraft are deorbited within hours of undocking, but in this case the Russian space agency Roskosmos left the spacecraft in orbit to perform engineering tests in an effort to find ways to reduce microgravity conditions on the spacecraft.

Related Links:

•  Itar-Tass article
•  RIA Novosti article