spacetoday.net: Russia delays upcoming ISS missions

Posted: Fri, Aug 9, 2002, 2:38 PM ET (1838 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The next two Russian flights to the International Space Station, including a taxi flight whose crew includes pop star Lance Bass, will be delayed by several days, NASA officials confirmed late Thursday. The Soyuz taxi flight, identified by NASA as "Soyuz 5", will launch on October 28, six days later than previously planned. Bass confirmed the October 28 launch date in an interview with the columnist Army Archerd of the entertainment trade daily Variety. The launch of an unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft has also been pushed back from September 10 to the 20th. No reason for either delay was announced, although the Soyuz delay may be more to do with the delayed Progress launch than efforts to give Bass more training time. Those delays will force NASA in turn to delay the launch on Endeavour on an ISS crew rotation mission. NASA had planned to launch Endeavour on November 2, but instead will wait until after the Soyuz taxi crew departs on November 7 before launching.