MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The shift from automatic to manual docking of the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship with the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday resulted from a glitch in the operation of one of the ship control system's elements, a source in the rocket and space industry said.
"There was a shortage of thrust in one of the Soyuz docking and orientation engines," he said.
The Soyuz TMA-19M brought the 46/47 expedition, consisting of Yury Malenchenko (Roscosmos), Timothy Kopra (NASA), and Timothy Peake (European Space Agency), to the ISS.
The new expedition will spend seven, instead of six, months aboard the ISS due to an adjustment of the flight program. The new ISS crew will receive new Russia's Progress-MS cargo spacecraft and U.S.' Dragon and Cygnus cargo spacecraft. The crew will also install additional equipment being delivered by the cargo spacecraft.
Russia's scientific program aboard the ISS includes 46 experiments, including five outside the ISS.