The maiden voyage of Russia's first rocket of post-Soviet design, Angara, was scrubbed at the last moment Friday for reasons that are not yet known, Interfax reported.
Lieutenant General Alexander Golovko told Interfax that the rocket's flight computer triggered an automatic launch abort moments before liftoff, and that the launch has been bumped to Saturday.
President Vladimir Putin, who was watching the launch alone in a large Kremlin conference room, told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — who was at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia to preside over the launch – that he had one hour to analyze the situation and report back.
Angara is an important project for the Russian space program, which has managed to stay afloat for 20 years by maintaining and upgrading proven Soviet-era technology. Angara is the first rocket the space industry has designed since the collapse of the Soviet union in 1991, and is intended to prove that Russia has a future in space.
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