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Russia to Go Ahead With Soyuz Launch
Russia has decided to go ahead with the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft to dock with an International Space Station hit by major computer glitches, a Russian space source said on Friday.
But a senior Russian space official made clear any decision could be reconsidered hours before the planned launch on Saturday if Russian and U.S. experts failed to fix ISS computer problems which emerged on Tuesday.
The Russian craft is to carry the first space tourist, U.S. citizen Dennis Tito, who has paid some $20 million to be taken along. It will also carry cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev, who has dual Russian-Kazakh citizenship, and Yuri Baturin.
The U.S shuttle Endeavor, currently docked to the station, was expected to depart on Saturday hours after the planned Soyuz liftoff.
The U.S. space agency NASA said on Thursday it wanted to keep Endeavor docked for two more days. With NASA unable to control the orbiting outpost or talk directly to its crew due to computer problems on the ISS, Endeavor is acting as a relay for Mission Control to communicate with the astronauts.
Shuttle flight director Phil Engelauf said Soyuz would come "uncomfortably close" to Endeavor's tail if it tried to dock before the shuttle left.
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