After successfully entering Earth’s atmosphere, a European spacecraft is lost

A European company that seeks to develop orbital spacecraft for cargo, and eventually humans, took a step forward this week with a test flight that saw its "Mission Possible" vehicle power up and fly successfully in orbit before making a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

However, after encountering an "issue," the Exploration Company lost contact with its spacecraft a few minutes before touchdown in the ocean.

In an update on LinkedIn Tuesday morning, the company characterized the test flight as a partial success—and a partial failure.

"The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out," the company said in a statement. "We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon. We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads."

Maybe it was the parachutes

Reestablishing communications ...