Russia delays launch of new crew to ISS until July 7

The launch of a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed until July 7 for safety precautions, Russia's space corporation Roscosmos said Monday.

Expedition 48-49 crew members Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Kate Rubins of NASA were originally scheduled to travel to the ISS on June 24 for a four-month space mission.

"In order to ensure safety of the launch of the first modernized Soyuz-MS piloted spacecraft to the ISS, a decision has been made to conduct a series of additional software tests and to postpone the launch of a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz-MS until July 7, 2016 at 04.36 am Moscow time [ 01:36 GMT]," Roscosmos said in statement.

Meanwhile, the return of the Soyuz TMA-19M space capsule, which has been docked with the ISS since December 2015, has been set for June 18, Roscosmos said.

Source: Sputnik News