Launch Postponed for Soyuz Rocket with Saudi Satellites

Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
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Launch Postponed for Soyuz Rocket with Saudi Satellites

Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA

The launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket, with two Saudi and other satellites on board, has been postponed until Sunday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

The launch of 38 satellites from more than half a dozen countries, which had been scheduled for 0607 GMT on Saturday, is now set for 0607 GMT on Sunday, Roscosmos added.

"The launch of the Soyuz-2.la rocket... with 38 foreign satellites on board from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been postponed until a later date," Roscosmos said.

Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said the launch was postponed after a surge in voltage was detected.

"We decided not to take the risk," Rogozin told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The rocket was due to place in orbit 38 satellites from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

Saudi Arabia's Shaheen Sat satellite would have been the 17th spacecraft from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology to be launched in Kazakhstan. Shaheen Sat would be utilized for photography and maritime tracking purposes.

CubeSat, meanwhile, was designed by King Saud University for educational use. The university would have been the first in the Kingdom to send a satellite into space.

“I am hopeful that great moves and achievements will be made so that we can continue to be in the lead. The Kingdom deserves to be in a position of leadership in everything, including space activities,” Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Space Authority, said Friday.



TikTok Vet Urges Social Media Users to Avoid Dangerous, Unfunny Trend Involving Cats

A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
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TikTok Vet Urges Social Media Users to Avoid Dangerous, Unfunny Trend Involving Cats

A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)

A vet popular on TikTok has urged social media users to avoid taking part in a potentially dangerous and unfunny trend involving cats.

UK-based veterinarian Ben the Vet has some 209,000 followers on TikTok and more than five million likes on his videos, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

Last week, Ben published a video from another TikTok post, showing someone spinning their cat around.

The video, which is among his many videos focusing on animal welfare topics, was accompanied by a short caption: “Leave the cats on the ground people.”

The footage, as Ben says, has more than four million views.

In his video, Ben shared his thoughts on the trend and asked: “Is that funny? Am I not getting why it is so entertaining? It is really?”

He continued: “Is it [funny] watching an unhappy cat be spun around, [who is quite clearly, not very happy with the situation?”

Ben closed his video saying: “I'm all for funny cat videos, but not when the cat is the sort of losing party.”

People in the comments hit out at the original clip, with one saying: “THANK YOU. People stay stressing their animals out for views.”

Another person said: “People often seem to think that harassing their cats is funny... hate it.”

One more commented on the trend, saying: “I think it’s cute sometimes, but most cats and dogs do not enjoy this trend. Most viral videos feature uncomfortable animals, since I have worked in vet med I now realize this...”

According to animal welfarists, videos in which people spin around their pets - including cats, dogs and rabbits - are dangerous for a number of reasons.

As well as potentially causing nausea and vomiting, spinning animals around, particularly when holding them by the front legs, puts lots of pressure on their shoulders and legs.

In addition, when the animals squirm while being spun around, this can cause damage to their spines.

People took to the comments section of the video to share their own thoughts on the topic - and appeared to mainly agree with the veterinarian.