MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's space agency said it had to refigure communications with civilian satellites and the International Space Station on Wednesday after a cable broke outside Moscow, but that the satellites and the station were operating normally.
The space agency, Roskosmos, offered assurances after state-run news agency RIA cited an unnamed source as saying Russia lost the ability to control most of its civilian satellites and send commands to its segment of the space station.
"The cable break ... is not affecting the functioning of Russian satellites and the International Space Station," Roskosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said. He said the agency was able to communicate with the satellites and control them.
Kuznetsov said a cable had broken during work by a construction company at an unspecified site east of Moscow.
RIA had cited its source as saying the broken cable would not be repaired for at least 48 hours and that the problem could delay problem could delay the departure of a Russian, an American and a Japanese astronaut from the station, scheduled for November 19.
Kuznetsov said the incident had not affected plans for their undocking from the station and return to Earth.
The RIA report, citing as separate source, said military satellites had not been affected.
