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Next Soyuz spacecraft will be launched to ISS on July 24

The Soyuz launch, initially scheduled for May 26, will carry Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and US astronaut Kjell Lindgren

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The launch of Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) is planned for July 24, a source at the Baikonur spaceport told TASS on Wednesday.

"According to launching schedule, the launch of Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft is planned on July 24," the source said.

The Soyuz launch will be the first manned flight to ISS after the loss of the Progress M-27M spacecraft, the source noted. The Soyuz launch, initially scheduled for May 26, will carry Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and US astronaut Kjell Lindgren.

Head of the Russian segment of the ISS Vladimir Solovyov said earlier that the program of launching spacecraft will be changed because of the Progress accident. He added that the Soyuz launch was planned for the end of June, but did not name the exact date.

Successive depressurization of the oxidizer and propellant tanks of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket’s third stage caused the loss of the cargo vehicle Progress M-27M, the head of the Russian space agency Igor Komarov said on Tuesday.

"In the 526.716th second of the flight the separation of the spacecraft from the rocket went wrong. As a result, the cargo vehicle was put in an orbit 40 km higher than expected (apogee), and the third stage, 20 km below the designated trajectory (apogee)," Komarov said.

The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur space center Russia leases from Kazakhstan on a Soyuz carrier rocket. The rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than required to dock with ISS. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get control of the spacecraft, experts gave up the idea.