An unmanned spacecraft carrying Russia's first humanoid robot to be sent into orbit failed to dock automatically at the International Space Station on Saturday, in a new setback for Moscow.

Axar.az reports citing AFP that the Soyuz craft had to retreat to a "secure distance" from the ISS, Russian news agencies said, quoting the space flight control center.

A space industry source blaming "failings" with the docking system.

The docking had been scheduled for 0530 GMT but a live broadcast of the event on the website of the Russian space agency Roscosmos was interrupted when the Soyuz approached about 100 meters (100 yards) off the ISS.

An emergency meeting at the control center was underway to decide whether to launch another attempt to link up with the space station, the agency said Saturday.

The life-size robot named Fedor, short for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research is the first-ever sent up by Russia.

Fedor blasted off Thursday in a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and was to stay on the ISS until September 7 learning to assist astronauts in the space station.