A technical hitch has halted the countdown for the launch of a heavy-lift Ariane-5 rocket carrying two satellites, hours before its scheduled launch from French Guiana on Tuesday, space officials said, according to Reuters. Officials from the Arianespace rocket launch company said the mission would be postponed for at least 24 hours. They said the problem stemmed from an anomaly in ground equipment used to prepare the rocket in Europe's space base in Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America. The rocket -- capable of launching satellite payloads of up to 10 metric tonnes (22,000 pounds) -- was to have launched Spainsat, a Spanish military communications satellite and Hot Bird 7A for Paris-based telecoms operator Eutelsat. The maiden flight of the heavy-lift version of the Ariane-5 rocket ended in disaster in 2002 when it veered off course over the Atlantic Ocean. After modifications, the rocket was successfully launched twice in 2005. --SP 00 04 Local Time 21 04 GMT
