MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Roscosmos is not dropping plans for the launch of the manned Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft on May 26, a source in the Russian space agency said on Wednesday.

"The preparation for the manned launch on May 26 is ongoing, the carrier rocket is on the standby mode," the source said citing the schedule for launches for May and June.

The main crew of a new expedition scheduled to go to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft comprises Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren. The back-up crew consists of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, European Space Agency astronaut Timothy Peake (UK) and NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra.