U.S. satellite launch postponed

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A commercial launch of a U.S. satellite from the Baykonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been postponed for technical reasons, local media reported Tuesday.

The AMERICOM-15, or AMC-15, satellite of SES AMERICOM was to be launched Sept. 24 aboard a Proton launch vehicle. The AMC-15 satellite is to distribute video, Internet and broadband services across the United States including Alaska and Hawaii.

The launch was put off until October, the Russian Itar-Tass news agency said.

The postponement will allow additional testing of one of the rocket's avionics, according to International Launch Services, a joint venture of U.S. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

The Baykonur cosmodrome -- 330 miles to the southwest of the capital, Astana -- is now leased by Russia from Kazakhstan.