The launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket originally scheduled for Friday has been postponed due to a ground equipment failure 1.5 minutes before the blastoff, a source close to the Russian defense ministry told TASS on Friday.

"The automatic controls rejected the launch 1.5 minutes before the Angara blastoff," the source said.

According to the source, the carrier rocket is in working condition. The launch was rejected because of a ground equipment failure.

Two sources in Russia’s space industry told TASS earlier that the Angara launch from the Plesetsk spaceport in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region had been postponed to December 24 due to ground equipment problems and weather conditions.