Hadfield says Russian rocket failure won't delay his flight

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Hadfield says Russian rocket failure won't delay his flight

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, August 30, 2011 2:29PM EDT

A Soyuz rocket booster carrying the Progress supply ship is launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. (Rossiya 24 TV Channel)

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MONTREAL - Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says the recent failure of an unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft won't affect his trip to the International Space Station in 2012.

Hadfield, who is training in Moscow, is scheduled to travel to the orbiting space outpost next year in a capsule atop a Soyuz rocket.

The rocket will be similar to the one which crashed shortly after takeoff last week.

Officials are still trying to figure out what caused the rocket's engine to fail as it was headed to the space station to deliver supplies.

But Hadfield says any interruptions caused by the accident won't affect flights that are planned six months or a year from now -- including his own voyage.

The Canadian astronaut also points out that the Russians have two unmanned Soyuz rocket launches before the next manned crew is scheduled to go up.