LAUNCH OF SAUDI SATELLITES POSTPONED

MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has again postponed the launch of a rocket carryingfive satellites for Saudi Arabia, Italy and Malaysia because of technicalproblems. Russian space officials said the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan was aborted for the second time when problems during the finalphase of the countdown forced space officicials to scrap the attempt The Dnepr 1 booster rocket, a modified and refurbished jointRussian-Ukrainian RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile designated byNATO as an SS-18 Satan was to have launched from an underground silo to sendinto a 650 kilometer Earth orbit two 10 kilogram Saudi Arabian researchsatellites, Saudisat 1A and 1B, for the Saudi Institute for Space Research.