Roscosmos Made The Decision To Postpone The Launch Monday

The Roscosmos Board held a meeting Monday to discuss a report by Technical Management on Human Space System Flight Testing, which mentioned an "incompliance in operation" of the Kvant-V equipment in Soyuz TMA-21 detected during the current launch preparations at Baikonur. The agency announced that due to the problem, and the necessity to run additional analysis, it was delaying the launch of Soyuz TMA-21.

A condenser failure is being blamed for the glitch in Kvant-V, and a special working group has been established to investigate the incompliance. The group which comprises reps of manufacturers and developers, RSC-Energia – prime contractor on human space system flight testing, and TSNIImash, leading R&D company of the industry.

Soyuz TMA-01M

Proposals of the working group will be considered during an additional General Designers’ Review, which is to submit its conclusions on Soyuz TMA-21 launch campaign and launch date to the State Board and Roscosmos Board.
 
Meanwhile, the three current members of the ISS crew will return to the Earth as scheduled despite the delay. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, and U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly will return to Earth on Wednesday as planned.

Expedition 25 Landing

The landing of the advanced Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft has been scheduled for March 16 at a designated area in Kazakhstan. Kaleri, Skripochka and Kelly spent almost five months in orbit. They carried out several spacewalks and conducted over 40 scientific experiments.

The Soyuz TMA-M manned spacecraft docked with the ISS on October 10 last year. It is designed to replace the outdated generation of Soyuz TMA spacecraft, which uses analog on-board systems. The new spacecraft has new in-flight measurement systems, new guidance, navigation and control equipment.

FMI: www.federalspace.ru