MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - The first launch of a new generation carrier rocket, Soyuz-2.1a, will take place Wednesday night after a day's delay, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency said.
The rocket was to have piggybacked a European weather satellite into orbit Tuesday from Baikonur space center, but a technical malfunction that has now been fixed was discovered.
"The problem was resolved and the state commission at Baikonur decided to launch Soyuz 2.1a with the European MetOp satellite," an agency spokesman said.
The launch is scheduled for 8:36 p.m. Moscow time (4:36 p.m. GMT).
The launch was originally planned for July 17 and was later rescheduled for July 18 and then July 19.
Agency head Anatoly Perminov said the delay of the launch was not an extraordinary situation.
"This is an absolutely new rocket and will be launched from Baikonur for the first time," he said. "This is a normal situation and our European colleagues understood our decision to postpone the launch again."
The four-ton MetOp satellite will be used for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. The launches of three MetOp satellites will cost 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 bln).
