24-hour launch postponement for Flight VS23

Latest update from Arianespace on Tuesday evening CET: 

Flight VS23: Soyuz – COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation CHEOPS / OPS-SAT / EyeSat / ANGELS New launch date targeted for Wednesday, 18 December, 2019

Replacement operations are underway for the faulty equipment of Soyuz Flight VS23 that was affected by an outage.

A new technical review before fuelling of the launch vehicle will occur tomorrow at H0-5h (five hours prior to liftoff).

Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday, 18 December, 2019 at exactly:

• 03:54:20 a.m., in Washington, D.C.
• 05:54:20 a.m., in Kourou, French Guiana
• 08:54:20 Universal Time (UTC)
• 09:54:20 a.m., in Paris
• 09:54:20 a.m., in Rome
• 11:54:20 m., in Moscow

Arianespace published this statement on Tuesday morning:

The Soyuz launcher’s automatic sequence for Flight VS23 was interrupted during final countdown operations at 1 hour 25 minutes prior to liftoff on 17 December. As this mission has a launch window with a fixed, exact moment of liftoff, Flight VS23 was postponed. The Soyuz launcher and its satellite payloads – the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, CHEOPS, OPS-SAT, EyeSat, ANGELS satellites – were placed in a fully safe standby mode.

The new target launch date will be announced as soon as possible.