The new International Space Station (ISS) crew's Soyuz TMA-16M flight to the station, slated for September, will take two days, Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said Wednesday.
"Manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-18M, the launch of which is planned to take place at Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 2, 2015, will approach the International Space Station on a two-day scheme," Roscosmos said in a statement.
The decision was made for security purposes, according to the agency.
Russia, Germany Sign Several Space Cooperation Deals
Russia's federal Roscosmos space agency said Wednesday it had signed a number of documents on cooperation in the space industry with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
"Roscosmos and DLR have jointly developed and signed provisions on working groups, which will be created for general work on the development of space robotics and remote sensing. The composition of the working groups will be decided by the end of 2015," Roscosmos said in a statement.
The parties also signed an additional agreement, extending cooperation on the joint Kontur-2 International Space Station experiment throughout 2016. The unique experiment focuses on remotely controlling robots from space.
