Moscow. May 27. INTERFAX.RU – The launch of the Soyuz rocket with OneWeb satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome has been postponed to a backup date of May 28, Roscosmos reported.
“For technical reasons, the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 36 OneWeb spacecraft within the framework of mission No. 47 has been postponed to a backup date,” the message says.
“Currently, the space rocket remains in a prelaunch state. The launch time will be announced additionally,” the state corporation added.
As it was specified in the official broadcast of the launch conducted by Roscosmos, the launch will take place on Friday, May 28.
The Soyuz-2.1b rocket on Thursday evening was supposed to launch 36 communication satellites of the British company OneWeb into orbit from the Vostochny cosmodrome.
Earlier, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, reported that in 2021 three launches are planned at the Vostochny cosmodrome under the federal space program, including the launch of Luna-25.
About OneWeb satellites
LEO OneWeb spacecraft are designed to provide terrestrial consumers with high-speed Internet directly via satellite communications. Roskosmos plans to carry out ten launches with such spacecraft in 2021.
There are already more than a hundred such satellites in orbit, the first were launched into orbit in February 2019 from the Guiana Space Center (French Guiana).
In June 2015, Roskosmos signed a contract with Arianespace for 21 commercial launches of 672 communication satellites of the space system of the British company OneWeb on Soyuz-2 launch vehicles with upper stages of the Fregat family from the Baikonur, Vostochny cosmodromes, and also Kuru in French Guiana. The contract value was $ 1.2 billion.
On April 23, Rogozin said that the state corporation and OneWeb held negotiations on April 9 at Baikonur on the conclusion of a new contract for the launch of the second generation of the company's devices.
Earlier, the first deputy head of Roscosmos for finance, Maxim Ovchinnikov, said in an interview with Interfax that the state corporation expects to conclude a contract with OneWeb for launching second-generation satellites.
“We will do everything to get this contract,” Ovchinnikov said.
As previously reported by the head of OneWeb Greg Wyler, the company plans to launch 1,980 satellites into orbit, of which about 900 first-generation satellites and about a thousand second-generation satellites.
