ISS mission delayed after damage to Soyuz craft: director
The next mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for December 13, has been delayed following "idiotic" damage to the Soyuz spacecraft, the mission director said on Friday.
"It is certain that there will be a delay. The start of the mission should be delayed by 10 days to two months," said Andreas Schon from the German Aerospace Centre.
"In the worst case it would be February. There was an idiotic logistical error," said Schon.
The Soyuz spacecraft was damaged during transport to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, according to Interfax news agency.
It was due to take Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli to the ISS.
Meanwhile, ESA director Simonetta Di Pippo reiterated the importance that the agency attached to co-operation with China, which has ambitious goals for space exploration.
"China is making a lot of efforts. We will find a way to co-operate," she said.
Di Pippo told reporters that ESA was aiming for a moon landing by 2020-2025.
(c) 2010 AFP
