MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th October, 2019) The first launch of the Russian Soyuz-2 carrier rocket with a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which was planned for March 20, may be rescheduled to April 9, a source in the space industry told Sputnik on Friday.
Between 2002 and 2019, only Soyuz-FG rockets with a Ukrainian-made control system were used for launching manned Soyuz spacecraft missions to the ISS. However, Soyuz-FG is not used anymore as the industry is switching to the use of Soyuz-2.1a carriers with the Russian-made control system. The first test unmanned launch of the Soyuz spacecraft atop the carrier was held last August.
"The date of the launch of the manned Soyuz MS-16 mission atop Soyuz-2.1a is under consideration to be shifted from March 20 to April 9, 2020," the source said without specifying reasons behind the delay.
Russian space agency Roscosmos has declined to comment on the matter.
The Soyuz MS-16 crew will include Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin and Christopher Cassidy, an astronaut of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Since 2004, 35 launches of Soyuz-2.1a loaded with various spacecraft and cargo ships have been carried out from Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny cosmodromes.
