Russia will launch four manned and six cargo...

The first two Soyuz carrier rockets have been delivered to the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in preparation for next year"s launches.

"The Soyuz-U rocket will deliver a Progress space freighter into orbit, and the Soyuz-FG will be used to launch a manned spacecraft," Roscosmos said.

The Russian segment of the ISS currently consists of the Zvezda and Zarya modules, and the Pirs and the Poisk docking stations.

A NASA space shuttle is scheduled to deliver Russia"s MRM-1 (Rassvet) module to the ISS next May, to provide additional cargo storage and docking facilities for the Russian segment.

Russia plans to add a multipurpose scientific module and two energy modules to the ISS in the next three years and continue rotating at least two cosmonauts as part of the station"s six-member crew.

MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti)