CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Russian spaceship on a failed cargo run to the International Space Station is falling fast and expected to hit Earth's atmosphere and burn up late on Thursday, satellite tracking websites showed.

The Progress-59 freighter was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but did not make it to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

Ground controllers lost contact with the capsule, which was loaded with more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's six-member crew, shortly after it separated from the upper stage of its Soyuz launcher.

The tumbling spacecraft is expected to be tugged back into Earth's atmosphere around 9:36 p.m. Eastern timeon Thursday as it passes over China, the United States Air Force's contractor-operated Space-Track.org website showed.