Russia plans to delay the next mission carrying astronauts to the International Space Station by several weeks, due to problems with the Soyuz spaceship's re-entry vehicle.

The Interfax news agency Friday quoted a space industry source as saying the capsule did not pass the required tests ahead of the scheduled take-off, which had been planned for March 30. The source said the mission will now be postponed until mid-April or the first half of May.

Separately, Russia's space agency said Saturday's launch of a Dutch telecommunications satellite would also be delayed indefinitely for the second time because of problems with the Proton-M carrier rocket. The launch had originally been planned for December 26 but was rescheduled for January 28.

On Thursday, Russia launched a cargo spacecraft from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan that is carrying water, fuel, food and scientific equipment to the six-member crew on the International Space Station.

But Friday's announcements follow a series of recent setbacks for Russia's space program five decades after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space flight.

Last week, debris from Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt space probe fell into the Pacific Ocean after the unmanned probe had been stranded in Earth's orbit for two months.

In August, Russia suspended launches to the International Space Station after a Soyuz rocket carrying a Progress cargo ship crashed after lift-off from the Baikonour space center.

Russia is the only nation transporting crew members to and from the space station since the United States retired its space shuttle program last July.