Launch of Rockot space vehicle planned for mid-July postponed for 2 weeks - source
MOSCOW. July 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The launch of the Rockot launch vehicle, a derivative of the SS-19 Stiletto ICBM, from the Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region, which was originally planned for mid-July, has been postponed for two weeks, a Russian space industry source told Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"The launch has been postponed due to mechanical problems with the Briz-KM upper stage developed and manufactured by the Khrunichev Space Center," he said.
The rocket is supposed to put four satellites into orbit, two Gonets-M communications satellites, one Kosmos spacecraft, and a MiR micro-satellite.
The launches of Rockot rockets have been suspended following a failed launch on February 1, 2011. A Geo-IK-2 military geodesic satellite was then put into a wrong orbit with a minimum altitude of about 370 kilometers and a maximum altitude of about 1,020 kilometers instead of a planned circular 1,000-kilometer high orbit because of a Briz-KM upper stage's malfunction.