The rocket was to be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 2 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday.

This was the second attempt to launch the rocket. The start on Friday was aborted for technical reasons when the final pre-launch operations were under way.

The rocket, a prototype of a new Russian booster 'Dnepr,' had to place five minor space vehicles belonging to Italy, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia into orbit, the press service for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces told Interfax earlier. Saudi Arabia and Malaysia would have launched their own satellites for the first time.

Two satellites had to be launched under a contract with Italy. The Megsat space vehicle weighing 56 kilos is designed for environment control and is also equipped with transmitting devices for commercial use. The second vehicle, Unisat, weighing 10 kilos and belonging to the University of Rome, could be employed for educational and scientific purposes.

Another two satellites, the Saudisat-1A and Saudisat-1B weighing 10 kilos each and designed for solving educational and scientific tasks, were to be launched under a contract with the Saudi Arabian Space Research Institute. The fifth vehicle, the Tiungsat satellite weighing 52 kilos and belonging to Malaysia's state company is equipped with instruments for distant probing of the Earth.

Ukrainian-Russian rocket to fly in September

MOSCOW and KIEV. Aug 28 (Interfax) - The launch of a former Russian intercontinental ballistic missile that had been turned into a carrier space rocket scheduled for Friday was put off until the end of September due to malfunctions in the vehicle's fuel supply system, a Russian aerospace source has told Interfax.

The rocket will carry five foreign satellites into space.

Alexander Kuznetsov, chairman of a commission appointed to oversee the launch and deputy general director of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, and Yuri Alexeyenko, head of the press service of the Yuzhnoye design group in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, have also said the launch has been postponed until September.

The RS-20 Satan rocket, which received a new name, Dnepr, is the first in a new generation of light-class carriers. A Ukrainian-Russian venture was set up to turn the missile into a carrier. The two countries have equal rights in managing the company and distributing its profits.

The pre-launch operations stopped automatically as the rocket was poised for takeoff at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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