ITWire

It was just announced on Sunday, January 15, 2012 (in the United States) that the Russian probe Phobos-Grunt landed in the Pacific Ocean about 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) west of Wellington Island (New Zealand) in the South Pacific Ocean - somewhere between New Zealand and South America.

And, its entry time into the Pacific Ocean was about 12:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), or 1745 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

For more on this story, please read the 1/15/2012 MSNBC article 'Derelict Russian space probe crashes to Earth.'

In addition, the Russians have indicated recently that some of its failed space missions, including the Phobos-Grunt, were the fault of others.

However, according to the 1/15/2012 ABC News article 'Phobos-Grunt: Failed Russian Mars Probe Falls to Earth', the problem with the Russian Phobos-Grunt was, 'More likely, said space analysts, it was the Russians' own fault.'

The ABC News article quoted Charles Vick, who is said to be knowledgeable with the Russian space program. Vick commented on the Russian effort with regards to the Phobos-Grunt probe, "Certainly, the quality control was lacking, and testing the spacecraft ... was never done due to lack of funds."