MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The British side has yet to officially inform its Russian partners on whether the launch of the Soyuz carrier rocket with OneWeb satellites should be postponed, the Glavcosmos press service told Interfax on Thursday.
"Currently, Glavcosmos has no official documents from European partners concerning the OneWeb satellites' launch in 2020," the press service said, commenting thus on media reports that the launch date had been moved from December to next January. The launch will be the second out of 21 and the first from Baikonur.
Meanwhile, a source in the space rocket industry told Interfax that foreign specialists, who are preparing the satellites for launch, had experienced technical problems and needed more time for pre-launch preparations.
In June 2015, Russian state corporation Roscosmos signed a contract with Arianespace and OneWeb for 21 commercial launches of 672 OneWeb telecommunications satellites atop Soyuz-2 rockets with a Fregat upper stage from Baikonur, Vostochny, and the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, where the first launch took place in the spring of 2019. With its total global coverage, the planned orbital grouping should ensure broadband Internet access to users throughout the world.
Glavcosmos is a Roscosmos subsidiary and export/import operator.