But Vecheslav Mikhailechenko, Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RASA) spokesman, said that the official decision to delay Zvezda launch will not be made until the issue is considered at a review meeting of the council of chief designers scheduled for sometime during the last two weeks of October.

Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the Zvezda launch will not take place on November 12, as it was previously scheduled to do. Even before the NASA request, Russia had been struggling to meet its deadlines due to severe financial problems.

Nevertheless, RASA planned to wait until the U.S. officially asked to postpone the Zvezda launch in order to avoid blame for the project delays.

Meanwhile, the news about NASA's wilingness to reconsider the space station launch schedule could not come at a better time for RKK Energia, the provider of supply and lifeboat spacecraft for the space station. The Russian company has been hoping to be able to launch another crew to Russia's Mir space station in March.

However, it had production conflicts in manufacturing Soyuz and Progress cargo ships for both the space station and Mir operations missions. RKK Energia may now be able to use this delay in ISS launches to complete its Mir plans.

Currently, the mission would last for one month so that the crew could prepare the station for deorbiting. If Russia comes up with enough money, however, the crew could stay for six months.