ALMATY, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan has indefinitely postponed a plan of sending its own cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) for lack of funding, Talgat Musabayev, head of the National Space Agency, said on Thursday.

    Musabayev told reporters that the sole reason for putting off the plan was lack of funding. He did not disclose the exact amount of fund specified in contract signed with Russia for the joint space mission.

    But he expressed the belief that Kazakhstan would go on with the plan, without giving a specific timetable for its implementation.

    Meanwhile, Director General of the Russian Aerospace Agency Anatoly Perminov said Wednesday that a Russian cosmonaut or a space tourist would take the place of the Kazakh crew member.

    Kazakhstan and Russia agreed last November that a Kazakh cosmonaut would fly to the "Russian segment" of the ISS in the fall of 2009.