Russia delays launch to space station to ensure safety of new spaceship

The flight of the next crew to the International Space Station has been postponed until July 7 from June 24 in order to ensure the safety of the first launch of their new Soyuz-MS spaceship, Russian space agency Roscosmos said Monday. A series of additional tests of the spaceship's software is required, Roscosmos said, citing the decision of a state commission which met earlier Monday. Russian Commander Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan's Takuya Onishi are due to take off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz-MS. More

(Source: Daily Star - Jun 7)