spacetoday.net: Dispute delays Proton launch

Posted: Tue, Nov 24, 2009, 5:00 AM ET (1000 GMT)
The launch of a European communications satellite on a Proton rocket was delayed for 24 hours on Monday, apparently because of a dispute between Russian and Kazakh officials. The Proton-M had been scheduled to launch Monday carrying the Eutelsat W7 satellite, but the launch was postponed to Tuesday. ILS gave no reason for the delay, and said that there were no technical issues with either the launch vehicle or the satellite. Russian media reports indicated that "organizational disagreements" between the Russian space agency Roskosmos and its Kazakh counterpart, Kazkosmos, delayed the launch.