MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) - Europe's unmanned cargo spacecraft ATV (automated transfer vehicle) will lift off for the international space station (ISS) in November instead of July, Russia's senior space official said Thursday.

"Originally, the ATV was to fly to the ISS in July but the launch has been put off because technical issues in the program have to be resolved," Alexei Krasnov, head of the piloted program department at the Russian Space Agency, said.

"November is a busy month for launches, and we are not sure yet whether the ATV can be launched then," he said. "I hope all issues related to the ATV will be resolved soon."

He said the ATV would be launched from the Kourou space center in French Guiana. The spacecraft was designed and built by the European space concern, EADS, on an order from the European Space Agency (ESA).