Russia sought US help in recovery of Mars probe

SPACE GLITCH In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Phobos became stranded while orbiting Earth after its Nov. 9 launch. The spacecraft is expected to fall to Earth around Jan. 15. (AP Photo, File)

WASHINGTON— The U.S. says it had nothing to do with the failure of the Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this week but responded to a Russian request to help recover it.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday the U.S. helped in efforts to re-establish contact with the spacecraft after it was stranded in orbit.

She said that although the recovery efforts were unsuccessful, the U.S. also helped monitor the final orbits of the Phobos-Ground probe, and its uncontrolled entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Fragments of the probe showered into the south Pacific on Sunday. Russian media reported that investigators will examine whether a U.S. radar station could have inadvertently interfered with the probe. Experts say such claims are far-fetched.