KOROLYOV (Russia) (Sputnik) – The launch of the Russian Progress MS-07 cargo spacecraft on the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket to the International Space Station, scheduled for Thursday, has been delayed, according to the Mission Control Center.
Progress MS07: Launch no earlier than Saturday at 4:46:53am EDT, assuming issue can be resolved; this would be a 34-orbit rendezvous
— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) 12 октября 2017 г.
“The launch of the Progress MS-07 has been moved to a backup date … I remind that October 14, 11:46 a.m. Moscow time [08:46 GMT] is the backup date,” the center’s commentator said without specifying the reason behind the delay.
"An automatic abort command canceled the launch – that is the only information I have received from Roscosmos. The state commission is examining the reasons behind the incident," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated, when asked about the reason for the delayed launch.
When asked whether someone would be punished for the delay, the deputy prime minister said that the state commission would investigate the issue.
A source in the space industry told Sputnik that before the launch was canceled, one of the mechanisms holding the spacecraft in place on the launchpad did not pivot outward.
It was planned that on Thursday Progress MS-07 will make its first flight to the ISS on a three-hour trip (two passes along the Earth's orbit). Earlier, the fastest flight scheme to the ISS for the Progress and Soyuz spacecraft took six hours.
