A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a humanoid robot failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday.
The FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) robot is on its way to the ISS on a planned two-week mission to support the crew and test its skills.
A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the failure to dock on Saturday was due to problems in the docking system. It said the space station itself and the six-person crew are safe.
The spacecraft is currently 96 metres away from the station, and Vladimir Solovyev, flight director for the Russian segment of the ISS, said a new docking attempt would be made Monday.
The Skybot F-850 is the first humanoid robot sent to space by Russia. NASA sent humanoid robot Robonaut 2 to space in 2011 to work in hazardous environments.
FEDOR is the size of a human adult and can emulate movements of the human body. Solovyev said the robot had not been taught how to manually conduct a docking.
The ISS is a joint project of the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.