The launch of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft carrying members of a new crew to the International Space Station could be conducted between April 5-10, head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Anatoly Perminov said.
The launch was originally scheduled for March 30 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, but it was postponed on Monday due to a glitch in the communications system installed on board the Soyuz, which was caused by a faulty capacitor.
"The Energia space corporation [responsible for the launch] resolved its issues in the past four days, and, thank God, everything is all right on their part," Perminov, who is accompanying Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on a visit to Belarus, told reporters on Tuesday.
"Several days are still necessary to check the [faulty] device, and that's the responsibility of the Russian Space Systems," Perminov said, adding that the launch date set between April 5 and 10 was possible.
"I think we will know for sure in a couple of days," he said.
The TMA-21 spacecraft will take Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko, and NASA astronaut Ronald Garan, to the space station.
MINSK, March 16 (RIA Novosti)
