Roscosmos Says Earliest Possible Launch Date Is Now In October
At The Earliest
The Russian Space agency Roscosmos has pushed back the next
manned launch of a Soyuz spacecraft following the loss of the
Progress 44 cargo ship earlier this month. The unmanned mission
failed to reach orbit when the third stage boosters did not
separate from the payload, and the vehicle impacted the ground in
Siberia.
Manned Soyuz Launch NASA Photo
The next planned mission had been set for September 22nd, but
the French news service AFP cites RIA Novosti as quoting Russia's
Manned Spaceflight Program Director Alexei Krasnov as saying that
"We expect that the next manned launch will take place in late
October or early November -- not earlier. That is our plan." He
said the return of three of the current ISS crewmembers had also
been pushed back from September 8th to the 16th. They will return
aboard one of two Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station. Russian
news agencies quoted Krasnov as leaving open the possibility of
leaving the station unmanned if no replacement crew could be flown
to the station.
NASA ISS manager Michael Suffredini said that it is possible to
operate the station with no one on board "assuming no significant
anomaly."
Roscosmos is in the process of checking all of its rockets after
the launch accident August 24th. Similar booster failures have
caused the loss of three satellites since December.
AFP reports that both Russian and U.S. Space Officials think
that the Soyuz problems can be traced to a faulty fuel pump that is
preventing full ignition in the rocket's third stage.
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