Russia had to suspend all launches after the accident on October 11, which is an unprecedented case for Russian post-Soviet manned launches
October 31, Russia said that the first manned launch on the ISS will take place no earlier than December 3. Sergei Krikalev, executive director of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, said that considerable efforts are now being made to resume the system of uninterrupted launches to the orbital station.
Russia had to suspend all launches after the accident on October 11, which is an unprecedented case for Russian post-Soviet manned launches. Astronaut Alexei Ovchinin and astronaut Tyler Haig managed to land safely in a capsule. The next crew members of the ISS should be Oleg Kononenko (Russia), David St. Jacques (Canada) and Ann McClain (USA). Before the accident, NASA stated that the group should start on October 20.
Krikalev also said that the astronauts aboard the ISS will return to Earth presumably on December 13. Alexander Gerst (ESA), Serina Aunon-Chancellor (NASA) and Sergey Prokopiev (Roscosmos) are currently at the orbital station.
