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Satnews Daily
January 29th, 2009

Russian Coronas-Photon Launch Is A No-Go


Cyclone-3 rocket launch (Russia) Russia's first carrier rocket launch of 2009 has been delayed until Friday, January 30th, for technical reasons, a spokesman for the Russian Space Forces said.

A Cyclone-3 carrier rocket was scheduled to lift off at 4:30 p.m. Moscow time (13:30 GMT) from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia to deliver a Coronas-Photon research satellite into orbit. "The launch has been tentatively rescheduled for an alternative date — January 30," Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.

Russia's next launch will be the space cargo ship Progress M-66, which will take supplies to the International Space Station on February 10, followed on February 11 by a Proton-M rocket with two new Russian Express-series communications satellites. Both launches will be from Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The Russian space agency is planning to make a total of 39 space launches this year from the Baikonur and Plesetsk space centers.

(Source: RIA Novosti — photo is of a Cyclone-3 liftoff)