NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier will lead the US delegation to the launch of the Soyuz MS-13 manned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 20, the press service of Russia's Roscosmos space corporation told TASS on Tuesday.

"According to the US delegation's lists of participants in the launch of the Soyuz MS-13 manned spacecraft with the members of the 61st expedition onboard, William Gerstenmaier, [NASA Administrator Jim] Bridenstine's deputy, will lead NASA's delegation," the press service said.

Bridenstine also did not attend the last launch from the Baikonur spaceport in mid-March. Spokesman for Roscosmos Vladimir Ustimenko told TASS then that this could be due to Bridenstine's busy schedule.

On July 20, the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft will deliver Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and astronauts Andrew Morgan (US) and Luca Parmitano (Italy) to the ISS.