"Bearing in mind that the third-stage engines remained active less time than expected the spacecraft may have already crashed in China or the Pacific Ocean," the source said.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russia’s cargo spacecraft Progress MS-04, which developed telemetry transmission problems shortly after blastoff, may have already crashed in China or in the Pacific Ocean, a source in the space rocket industry has told TASS.

According to the official, the launch went wrong before the spacecraft’s separation from the rocket.

"If such a thing occurs 150 seconds before the separation, it is hard to expect anything else. Most probably the spacecraft has been lost already," the source said.

"True, it is possible that the separation did take place… but the spacecraft began to descend first and then may have burned up in the atmosphere," he added.

The Roscosmos corporation has been unavailable for comment.

Earlier, Roscosmos said that problems occurred shortly after the launch of the Progress MS-04. Telemetry transmission was disrupted on the 383rd second. A TASS source in the space rocket industry said the flight went wrong when the third-stage engine RD-0110 manufactured by a design bureau in Voronezh was on.

The Soyuz-U rocket carrying the Progress MS-04 cargo spacecraft loaded with 2.5 tonnes of cargoes for the ISS crew, was launched from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan at 17:52 Moscow time.