MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2019) The next lift-off of Russia's Soyuz-ST launcher from the European Space Agency's Kourou spaceport in French Guiana has been postponed to December because foreign satellites are not ready, a source in rocket and space sphere told Sputnik.
The European Space Agency said in March that the launch was scheduled for October or November. The launch vehicle is expected to take to orbit Italian CSG-1 Earth observation satellite, European CHEOPS space telescope for the study of the formation of extrasolar planets, French EyeSat small scientific satellite and French first nanosatellite ANGELS.
"The launch of Soyuz-ST has been delayed to December due to unpreparedness of foreign satellites," the source said.
Meanwhile, Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos has declined to provide a comment to Sputnik on the matter.
Two Soyuz-ST launches have been conducted from Kourou in 2019 so far. In August, Dmitry Loskutov, the general director of Glavcosmos, a Russian launch service provider and a Roscosmos subsidiary, told Sputnik that one more launch would be held by the end of 2019 and two more in 2020.
Since October 2011, 22 launches of Russia's Soyuz-ST have been conducted from Kourou.
