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.
