Albert Blauensteiner wrote:
What is the problem to postpone the Soyuz launch a couple of days in context
of an international partnership as ISS seems to be ?


NASA doesn't want other vehicles to be moving around its shuttle.

While this is perhaps no longer such an issue, in the past, a soyuz
docking at zarya would be awfully close to the shuttle's tail and the
soyuz wouldn't really know it was there.

There is also a question of ECLSS capacity. With a shuttle crew, the
station is already strained for ECLSS capacity, adding 3 more from the
soyuz would make the station very crowded.