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Launch of Soyuz rocket carrying 38 satellites rescheduled for backup date

Roscosmos said later that the launch would take place at 09:07 Moscow time (06:07 GMT) on March 21

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Agency has rescheduled the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket, expected to deliver 38 satellites to orbit, for a backup date, the agency said in a statement on Telegram.

"The launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Fregat booster and 38 foreign spacecraft, from the Baikonur spaceport, has been rescheduled for a backup date," the statement reads.

The liftoff was postponed for technical reasons, a Roscosmos TV host said during a live broadcast. Roscosmos said later that the launch would take place at 09:07 Moscow time (06:07 GMT) on March 21.

The 38 satellites particularly include South Korea’s CAS500-1 remote sensing satellite, Japan’s ELSA-d space junk removal craft, Japan’s GRUS remote sensing microsatellites, Saudi Arabia’s NAJM-1 small satellite pathfinder for Earth observation and communications, and Berlin Technical University’s communications satellites. The Soyuz rocket is also expected to put into orbit the first D33 satellite of Russia’s Higher School of Economics, a CubeSat developed by the Sirius Center and Higher School of Economics and an OrbiCraft-Zorkiy satellite belonging to Russia’s private company Sputnix.

The mission will mark the first commercial launch by GK Launch Services (part of Roscosmos).

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