OneWeb Confirms Launch To Be Postponed For 1 Day In Wake Of Egyptsat-A Launch Emergency

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) The launch of the first set of six satellites of the UK One Web constellation into space from the Kourou spaceport atop the Russian Soyuz rocket, which was initially scheduled for February 27, was put off for at least one day, OneWeb founder and chairman Greg Wyler said, citing the need to analyze the data on the recent EgyptSat-A satellite launch, during which an emergency has occurred.

On Thursday, a source in the Russian space industry told Sputnik that the OneWeb launch might be postponed due to the emergency during the EgyptSat-A launch.

"At least one day slip for the launch. Ugh.

Glad to see EgyptSat-A launch was successful, but need to review more data on that launch before proceeding. Waiting patiently," Wyler wrote on Twitter late on Thursday.

The launch of the Egyptian satellite took place on Thursday.

Russian space agency Roscosmos has said that EgyptSat-A was successfully delivered to the designated orbit and was operating in a regular regime. However, Russian space industry sources told Sputnik that the third stage of the Soyuz rocket failed to bring the first stage carrying the Egyptian satellite to a target orbit, but the Fregat booster was able to use reserve fuel to compensate for the orbiting error.