MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - The launch of a European weather satellite on board a Russian carrier rocket was postponed indefinitely Wednesday, Russia's space agency said.
The launch of the European MetOp satellite was to be made on board a new generation carrier rocket Soyuz-2.1a from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, at 8:28 p.m. Moscow time (4:28 p.m. GMT) Wednesday.
"The delay in the launch is due to a failure in mission sequence tests," the Federal Space Agency said.
The first launch of the new Soyuz rocket was originally planned for July 17 and was later rescheduled for July 18 and then July 19.
The four-ton MetOp satellite is to be put into orbit for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. The planned launches of three MetOp satellites will cost 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 bln).
