Russia loses control of gigantic orbiting space telescope

Russia has lost control of its only space radio telescope but officials are trying to re-establish communication, the country’s beleaguered space agency said on Monday.

The incident is the latest setback for Russia’s debt-laden space industry, which in recent years has suffered the loss of spacecraft, satellites, and a failed manned launch.

Roscosmos said a US observatory detected signals from Russia’s gigantic Spektr-R, or RadioAstron, telescope, which stopped responding to commands from Earth last Thursday.

Roscosmos said that meant the on-board systems were working independently.

The Spektr-R telescope was launched into orbit in 2011 to study black holes, neutron stars and Earth’s magnetic field, among other subjects.