Next Russian Mission to ISS Will Proceed As Planned

Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax

Korolev, 28 July: The problems that have emerged with the flight of space shuttle Discovery will not affect the scheduled launch of the Russian Soyuz [manned] spacecraft, which should take off on 1 October 2005. This was announced by the head of the manned programme of Roskosmos [Russian space agency], Aleksey Krasnov, at a news conference in the Mission Control Centre on Thursday [28 July].

“The composition of the October crew has been confirmed and if there are no emergency situations, the space flight will take place as normal and as previously announced,” Krasnov said.

The crew of the 12th expedition to the International Space Station [ISS], which is scheduled to be launched on 1 October, comprises Russian and American professional cosmonauts as well as space tourist Gregory Olsen.

Krasnov also said that the next Russian launch to the ISS will be the sending of the Progress cargo ship with food, air and fuel for the ISS planned for 8 September.