Posted: Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 1:18 PM ET (1718 GMT)
Poor weather postponed Thursday's scheduled launch of two European navigation satellites on a Soyuz rocket for at least 24 hours. A Soyuz ST-B rocket was scheduled to lift off Thursday morning from the Guiana Space Center and place two Galileo satellite into orbit. However, citing "unfavorable" weather conditions at altitude, Arianespace postponed the launch at least until Friday morning. The two Galileo satellites will be the fifth and sixth operational spacecraft of the navigation satellite constellation. Yesterday, Arianespace and ESA signed a contract for three Ariane 5 launches, each carrying four Galileo satellites, starting in 2015. Those launches, along with five Soyuz launches, will place a total of 22 Galileo satellites into orbit.

Related Links:

•  AFP article
•  Itar-Tass article
•  Space News article
•  ESA press release about launch delay
•  Arianespace press release about launch contract