Russian space rocket launch delayed

A Russian Soyuz rocket, center in the background, carrying satellites stands on the launch pad at the new Vostochny Cosmodrome near Uglegorsk, the city in eastern Siberia in the Amur region, Russia Wednesday, April 27, 2016. AP

MOSCOW — Russia’s space agency says it has delayed the launch of a rocket from the Vostochny air field in Russia’s Far East.

The Soyuz rocket was supposed to launch on Wednesday, but was canceled 1.5 minutes before the planned liftoff. Roskosmos says the launch date has been rescheduled to Thursday.

Roskosmos’ deputy head Alexander Ivanov told the Tass news agency that the space agency is working to pinpoint what went wrong, but that the launch failure was not related to the infrastructure of the air field. Ivanov ruled out human factors in the failure.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists that President Vladimir Putin, who went to the Vostochny site to observe the launch, will stay at the site until the rocket has been launched. TVJ