OneWeb cancels satellite launch on Russian rocket

Soyus rockets at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan had been due to send 36 more OneWeb satelltes up into space
EPA / ROSCSMOS

The taxpayer-backed fledgling space-based internet service OneWeb has abandoned the launch of satellites amid a stand-off with Russia.

The company, which the government paid £400 million to help to save from bankruptcy two years ago, said its board had “voted to suspend all launches” from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. OneWeb had been preparing for 36 satellites to be sent into low Earth orbit from the Russian-owned cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket tomorrow night.