Russia restores communications with ISS

MOSCOW - The Russian Mission Control Center (MCC) has restored normal communications with satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) after a broken cable was fixed, Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.

"The communication cable has been restored. The control system is functioning in a nominal mode," Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov told reporters.

Now MCC maintains all operations through the main communication channel, according to Roscosmos.

The Russian Aerospace Defense Forces switched all communication channels to backup mode after workers accidentally chopped the cable in the Moscow region when doing maintenance work on Wednesday.

Following the incident, local media reported fears that Russia could lose the ability to control most of its civilian satellites and send commands to its segment of the ISS. Later, Kuznetsov said the incident would not affect the returning of the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft slated for next Monday.