Russian space officials blamed a series of “small glitches” for a 24-hour delay in the scheduled return of a Soyuz space capsule from the International Space Station (ISS).
American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and a pair of Russian cosmonauts were preparing to return after six months in orbit when a computer on the Soyuz signaled that the capsule was not fully air locked.
The incident was the third docking problem at the station in four months, including a system failure on two unmanned Russian Progress supply shuttles, causing one to fly past the space station in June.
The string of mishaps comes as NASA prepares to retire its shuttle program later this year, eliminating thousands of U.S. jobs and leaving the ISS entirely dependent on the Russian Soyuz.
