Russia's Soyuz launch with 2 Galileo Satellites postponed till November

The launch of a Russian Soyuz-ST carrier rocket with two Galileo satellites from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana has been put off from September until November, two space industry sources told Sputnik.

"The launch of the Soyuz-ST-B rocket with the Fregat-MT booster with two Galileo satellites from the Guiana space center has been postponed until November," one of the sources said.

The second source confirmed this information, adding that the launch is now set for the end of November. According to the source, the delay is not related to Russian launch vehicles.

"The rocket and the booster were prepared a long time ago," the source told Sputnik.

Earlier this month, a space industry source told Sputnik that two Galileo European navigation satellites were planned to be launched in the first quarter of 2022 using the Russian Soyuz-ST carrier rocket, instead of the European Ariane 6.

In September 2017, a contract was signed for the launch of four Galileo satellites in 2020-2021 using Ariane 6 rockets. The contract stipulated that Soyuz carriers were just a backup. However, since the first Ariane 6 launch was postponed until the second quarter of 2022, another Galileo launch was switched to the Soyuz rocket. It was initially planned for September of this year.

The second launch of two Galileo satellites is preliminarily planned for March 2022, according to Sputnik sources.