Unexplained technical problems had delayed the launch Friday, but one day later the Cosmos rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"The Nigerian delegation is very happy to see this event go on successfully. We've been waiting very anxiously," said Nigeria's Science and Technology Minister Turner Isoun on the broadcast.

"We believe that this will open a lot of opportunities for Nigeria to participate in space technology," he said.

Once operational, the new satellite will help Nigeria monitor weather and natural disasters, map its territory and gather geographical data. The 13 million dollar project will have a lifespan of five to seven years.

The launch means that Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, will become the continent's third state to have a presence in space, after South Africa and Algeria.

And, while the launch was carried out with Russian engineers and equipment, the satellite's ground control station will be in the Nigerian capital Abuja and staffed by 15 trained Nigerian scientists.

While the saga of the satellite has been keenly followed in the Nigerian media, and is regarded as a prestige project by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government, it has not been wholly uncontroversial.

Many commentators have argued that a country where more than 80 million out of 126 million citizens live in abject poverty on less than a dollar per day ought not to be spending its limited resources on a space programme.

Others, however, have welcomed the launch as a good example of Nigeria applying modern science to solve some of its many problems.

SPACE.WIRE