MONTREAL – The Canadian Space Agency is confirming that astronaut David Saint-Jacques will launch Dec. 3 for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
The fate of the Canadian’s voyage had been in question after a Soyuz rocket failure last month, but now he will blast off more than two weeks earlier than originally planned.
The agency says in a statement the re-scheduled launch date will help maintain science work and time-critical operations aboard the space station.
Saint-Jacques’ departure was originally scheduled for Dec. 20.
An investigation by the Russian space agency determined that a malfunctioning sensor caused a Soyuz rocket to fail shortly after it was launched in Kazakhstan on Oct. 11.
The problem occurred two minutes into the flight, sending the capsule holding NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Alexei Ovchinin of Roscosmos plummeting 50 kilometres to earth. Neither man was injured.
WATCH: David Saint-Jacques says he feels the pressure of walking in Chris Hadfield’s shoes