MOSCOW: A Soyuz rocket carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut failed to dock as planned early Wednesday to the International Space Station, the Russian and US space agencies said Wednesday, citing a problem on approach.
The rocket, which took off without a hitch on Tuesday from Russia's Baikonur launching pad in Kazakhstan, was meant to have hooked up with the ISS at 0304 GMT Wednesday after a six-hour flight.
It will now seek to dock at 2358 GMT on Thursday, Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos said, according to Russian news outlets.
The delay "is due to complications that appeared in the functioning of the vessel's orientation system," Roscosmos said.
The US space agency NASA said in a statement on its website that the Soyuz spacecraft "was unable to complete its third thruster burn to fine-tune its approach" to the orbiting space station.
As a result, the rocket is reverting to a backup docking window.
"Rendezvous experts are reviewing the plan, and may update it later as necessary," the US space agency said, adding that the trio on board were "in good spirits".
It added that the three personnel awaiting them on the ISS -- from Russia, the United States and Japan -- "were informed of the new plan" and standing by.
The three from the Soyuz will be staying on the orbiter for half a year.
Comments
Comments are closed.