spacetoday.net: Weather delays Soyuz O3b launch

Posted: Tue, Jun 25, 2013, 7:46 AM ET (1146 GMT)
Poor weather in French Guiana delayed Monday's scheduled launch of the first four spacecraft of a new communication satellite network. High winds forced controllers to delay the planned launch of the Soyuz-ST rocket from French Guiana. The launch is now scheduled for Tuesday at 2:53 pm EDT (1853 GMT). The rocket is carry four communications satellites built by Thales Alenia Space for O3b Networks. The satellites, each weighing 700 kilograms, will go into a circular equatorial orbit at an altitude of approximately 8,000 kilometers. This unusual orbit will allow the satellites to provide broadband communications to underserved regions of the Earth with less latency than satellites in more distant geosynchronous orbit. Another four satellites will launch later this year, with plans to place as many as 20 satellites into orbit to provide continuous global service.