It was one small step backwards for British military space plans as a last-minute mechanical glitch forced the abandonment of a hi-tech communications satellite launch.
Skynet 5A, part of a £3.6bn programme for British armed forces, was set to blast off aboard an Ariane rocket from the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana.
But because of concerns over a "water deluge" system, take-off was abandoned after a 33-minute launch window expired.
It is now hoped the take-off will happen on Monday night.
The countdown clock was stopped with just seven minutes to go before the start of the launch window after experts detected the problem.
The deluge system is designed to pump out million of gallons of water at the moment of take-off to cool the launchpad and deaden vibrations to protect the cargo on board.
But as the 33-minute window wore on, it became clear that blast-off may have to be abandoned altogether.
Finally, an announcement in French informed staff at mission control that the plan was to be abandoned for the night as engineers could not provide a "total 100% guarantee" that the system would work.
A live internet link relayed the events at Kourou around the world on the www.arianespace.com website.
Moments later a message on the screen said simply that the launch had been postponed.
