WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 -- U.S. space agency NASA and private company SpaceX decided Thursday to delay the launch of SpaceX's fifth commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) due to undisclosed rocket issues encountered during a preflight test.

The original plan was to launch the Falcon 9 rocket Friday, but NASA said in a statement the liftoff now will occur no earlier than Jan. 6.

"The new launch date will provide SpaceX engineers time to investigate further issues that arose from a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 16," the space agency said without details.

ISS managers will meet on Jan. 5, for a readiness review ahead of the launch attempt on Jan. 6, it said, noting that the launch postponement has no impact on the station's crew or its complement of food, fuel and supplies.

The Jan. 6 launch is scheduled at 6:18 a.m. EST (1118 GMT) with a backup launch attempt on Jan. 7 and a launch on Jan. 6 will result in a rendezvous and grapple of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on Jan. 8, NASA added.