17 Sep 2012 09:38

Launch of manned Soyuz spacecraft put off until end of Oct for technical reasons

KOROLYOV (Moscow region). Sept 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Following the failure of a device aboard Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft it has been decided to replace the device and conduct an additional series of tests, head of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Vladimir Popovkin told Interfax-AVN on Monday.

"In this connection the launch is put off to the last ten days of October. Initially the launch was scheduled for October 15," he said.

A source in the space industry said to Interfax: "A switching unit of the spacecraft is to be replaced."