By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The Progress M-61 space cargo ship will deliver additional equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) Aug 2 to ensure stability of the onboard computer network, a Russian space corporation said Tuesday.
"Final preparations for fuelling and placing deliverable hardware and cargo on board the spacecraft are under way," the Energia space corporation said in a statement.
The launch of the cargo spacecraft, originally scheduled for July 23, has been postponed until 9:32 p.m. Moscow time (5:32 p.m. GMT) Aug 2 due to additional testing of the computer hardware and software designed to fix the problems on board the space station.
The ISS ran into difficulties when the steering system on the Russian segment was disabled June 12 by the failure of six computers, which experts said could have been caused by changes in the ISS configuration after new solar arrays were connected.
The computer glitch was temporarily fixed by the ISS crew using components at hand, but the onboard network requires additional equipment to be fully repaired.
The state-run Energia space corporation designs Soyuz piloted spaceships and Progress carrier rockets, launches communications satellites and operates the Russian segment of the International Space Station.