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Russia postpones launch of next mission to orbital station

RIA Novosti

13:09 14/03/2011 MOSCOW, March 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian space agency Roscosmos said Monday it had postponed the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft carrying members of a new crew to the International Space Station due to technical problems.

The launch of the TMA-21 was originally scheduled for March 30 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

"A decision has been made to postpone the launch of the TMA-21 from March 30 until a later date due to technical reasons," Roscosmos spokesman Alexander Vorobyev told reporters.

Vorobyev said that during the pre-launch testing experts discovered a glitch in the communications system installed on board the Soyuz, which was caused by a faulty capacitor.

A source in the space industry later told RIA Novosti that the launch could be carried out on April 5-7.

The spacecraft will bring Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko, as well NASA astronaut Ronald Garan, to the ISS.