SAN ANGELO, Texas — MOSCOW (AP) The head of Russia's space
agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely
cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth
this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component
may have been vulnerable to the radiation. Vladimir Popovkin
also said a manned launch to the International Space Station is
being postponed from March 30 because of faults found in the
Soyuz capsule. The statements underline an array of trouble that
has afflicted the country's vaunted space program in recent
months, including the August crash of a supply ship for the
space station and last month's crash of a communications
satellite. Since the end of the U.S. space shuttle program last
year, Russian craft are the only means to send crew to and from
the ISS. The unmanned Phobos-Ground probe was to have gone to
the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them
back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch
on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit o