Roscosmos postpones launch of Soyuz rocket due to automatic engine shutdown

The scheduled mission of the Progress-MS08 cargo spacecraft was postponed until Tuesday after its Soyuz-2.1A rocket failed to lift off from Baikonur on Sunday, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said in a statement. “During the launch operations engines were shut down automatically; the cause of the incident is being investigated,” it said. Earlier, a space industry source told Interfax news agency the launch was postponed because the spacecraft — carrying some 2.5 tons of cargo for the International Space Station — will not be able to dock within the next 3.5 hours “because of ballistic issues.”