The launch, to be made atop a Ukrainian-built Zenit-2 rocket, had originally been due to take place in late March, and then on Sunday, but both firings were postponed. A new launch time was set for 1042 GMT on Monday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakstan but that was also cancelled.

Russian officials said the latest delays, like the earlier one in March, were due to technical problems with the Zenit-2, which was the last and most advanced space rocket built by the Soviet Union before it collapsed in the early 1990s.

A spokesman with the military space service said a special committee made up of space and military experts had gathered in Baikonur Monday to make a decision as to the fate of the rocket.

The rocket's first commercial launch in September 1998 failed and led to the destruction of 12 satellites for the Globalstar international consortium.

SPACE.WIRE