On Monday the Russia informed that the launch of its next manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) would be delayed further. This was due to the recent crash of its Progress M-12M.

Incidentally, after the retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet earlier this summer, Russian Soyuz craft became the only way for astronauts to reach the ISS. Russia’s Progress M-12M space freighter fell in South Siberia's Altai Republic, on 24 August 2011. The ISS, which serves as a research laboratory, has been continuously manned for more than a decade.

This only means that ISS crew need to extend their space stay and have to wait for a few more days to walk on earth. The launch which had earlier scheduled for 22 September is supposed to happen in late October at the earliest, after Russia grounded its fleet of Soyuz rockets. Investigators have said they want to determine the cause of last week's crash before launching further flights. The Progress resupply vehicle is an unmanned ship used to resupply the ISS.

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