Moscow (CNN) -- The Russian space agency on Monday postponed the launch of a new manned mission to the International Space Station due to last week's accident in which an unmanned cargo craft was lost, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
On June 16, China sent three astronauts into space on its first manned docking mission, a significant step towards its plan to build a Chinese space station in 2020.
FORBES: Blind Activist's Blind Faith Reveals Chinese Attitude toward Authority
Many sceptics will undoubtedly question why any country would choose to invest in future space exploration, including a manned mission to Mars, while there are so many unsolved problems on our planet, from HIV to malaria to poverty.
Some space experts have said that any manned Mars mission using existing rockets probably would need to have a capsule dock with some type of booster in orbit.
In 2010, when Mr Obama outlined his ideas, he spoke, somewhat vaguely, of a manned trip to a near-Earth asteroid, to be followed at some unspecified date in the 2030s by the ultimate space-cadet dream a manned mission to Mars.
And, for those space-cadets who still dream of a manned mission to the planet, there is also the Mars radiation environment experiment.
But now they could become humankind's next destination in space, if a new proposal for a manned mission to an asteroid comes to fruition.
Alexei Krasnov of the space agency, Roscosmos, said the next manned mission, originally planned to launch on September 22, now would occur in late October or early November, according to the RIA Novosti report.
This will be a manned mission, and will deliver two cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station.
FORBES: Russian Mars Probe Will Probably Fall To Earth Next Month
Our second goal is to develop and test a new space craft, the crew exploration vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014.
CNN: Bush: 'It is time for America to take the next steps' in space
应用推荐