Russian Space Agency endorses schedule of space launches for September-October

Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has endorsed a schedule of further launches from the Baikonur Space Centre to the International Space Station (ISS) starting with a blastoff of a manned Soyuz in early September, Roscosmos said in a release on Tuesday.

"Launches of Soyuz carrier rockets under the ISS programme are planned as follows: a Soyuz TMA-18M piloted transport spaceship - on September 2, 2015; a Progress M-29M cargo ship - on October 1, 2015," the document says.

Apart from that, it is planned to blast off a Soyuz-ST carrier rocket with Galileo European navigation satellites - FM05 (Alba) and FM06 (Oriana) - on September 11 from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

Originally, the Soyuz TMA-18M launch was planned for September 1, and the Progress launch was planned for September 21.

Roscosmos had to review the schedule of launches after an abortive launch of a Progress M-27M cargo spaceship in late April. The spaceship then failed to reach a designated orbit and burnt down in dense atmosphere in early May. The next Russian Progress (Progress M-28M) was launched to the International Space Station on July 3. It was followed by the manned Soyuz TMA-17M on July 23, which took an international crew of three to the ISS.