Third attempt to launch Soyuz spacecraft

The Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, will go for the third attempt on Wednesday to launch Soyuz-2.1a space carrier with six U.S. Globalstar-2 communications satellites, a spokesman for the agency said. "The launch is scheduled for 6:27 Moscow time [2:27 GMT]. The separation of the satellites from the Fregat booster is scheduled for 8:39 Moscow time [4:39 GMT]," the spokesman said. The launch of the spacecraft equipped with a Fregat booster from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan was initially scheduled for July 11 and was later moved to July 12. Both launches were postponed due to various technical reasons. Globalstar is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based telecommunications system founded by U.S.-based Loral Corporation and Qualcomm Inc. It provides high-quality satellite voice and data services across North America, and to over 120 countries worldwide. Commercial launches of Soyuz carrier rockets are managed by Starsem, a European-Russian joint venture, which comprises EADS SPACE, Arianespace, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and the Samara-based Progress design and production center.