On Thursday, the Russian space agency announced that Foton M4, a Russian space capsule that was launched July 18 on a two-month mission has stopped responding to commands from Earth.

This Russian space capsule was on a two-month mission with 22 Russian and German experiments to study how animals, plants, microbes and next-generation manufacturing materials react to spaceflight. Considering such a study-aim, the spacecraft has been sent with geckos, silkworm eggs, dried plant seeds and materials samples.

Through the experiment, researchers had planned to monitor the effects of microgravity on the adult geckos, their sexual behavior and embryonic development. Scientists had expected to have a continuous video recording of the gecko habitat aboard the spacecraft. Besides the gecko study, scientists had plans to study dried seeds and silkworm eggs inside the Foton space capsule to determine their response to cosmic radiation.

A joint statement was released by the Russian Federal Space Agency along with TsSKB Progress, the manufacturer of the Foton capsule. They declared that although all the systems are operating normally and also the design of the Foton M4 spacecraft allows for long-term autonomous operations without input from ground controllers, but still, after a few orbits the spacecraft stopped responding to all commands from mission control.

Now, the experts are working hard to restore and re-establish two-way communications with the spacecraft