The Soyuz launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is of huge importance to Russia as it comes ahead of the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin on April 12.

The Soviet-era Soyuz system will provide the world's only link for human travel to the ISS after the US shuttle programme closes in the coming months.

Any problems with Soyuz spacecraft or rockets could pose a serious challenge to international space exploration.

The Russian Federal Space Agency said in a statement that a fault with one of the Soyuz capsule's systems had been uncovered in testing and that the launch would be delayed "until a later date".

Various news reports said the launch may now take place between April 7 and 10.

The delay was announced just two weeks after a top government official accused the space agency of committing "childish" errors that included the loss of three satellites in December.

RIA Novosti said the latest malfunction affected a switching system that allowed the crew to communicate with ground control.

"We have formed a task force involving the developers and producers as well as the parent organisation of the manned flight programme, RSC Energia," the space agency statement said.

Russia named the March 30 mission in honour of Gagarin, the pioneering cosmonaut whose historic space flight at the height of the Cold War is still feted as one of the country's most important achievements.

The mission will include the Russians Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko as well as NASA astronaut Ronald Garan.

earlier related report
Russia may have to delay a planned rocket launch to the International Space Station that was timed to honour the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight, Interfax reported Monday.

The Souyuz craft bearing the name of pioneering Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin had been due to take off from Russia's Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on March 30.

But the manned flight may have to be delayed due to technical problems with the craft, Interfax quoted a Russian space industry official as saying.

"Today we will have a state committee meeting that will examine a new date for the manned flight," the news agency quoted its source as saying. "The cause is of a technical nature."

Soyuz rockets will provide the world's only link to the International Space Station after the three-decade old US shuttle programme formally closes after Endeavour and Atlantis take their final spaceflights in the coming months.

Russia's potential delay was reported just two weeks after a top government official accused the space agency of committing "childish" errors that included the loss of three satellites in December.

The ISS is orbiting 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Earth, with its first module launched by Russia in 1998.

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