28 Oct 2014 10:02

Airplane with European satellite aboard makes emergency landing in Ulyanovsk - source

MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax-AVN) - A transport airplane carrying Europe's Astra-2G satellite to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan, made an emergency landing in the city of Ulyanovsk, a Russian space sector source told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.

"Specialists are working to fix the problem. If they prove unable to do so, the airplane will have to be replaced," he said.

The launch of the European satellite on board a Proton-M rocket has been set for November 28, he said.

"Hopefully, the delay with delivering the Astra-2G satellite will not require a change of the launch date for the European satellite," the source said.