MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - The first launch of Russia's new generation carrier rocket Soyuz 2-1A to put a European weather satellite in orbit has been delayed by one day, the country's Federal Space Agency said Tuesday.

"The launch has been postponed by 24 hours due to technical reasons," the agency said.

The first launch of Soyuz-2-1A with the MetOp satellite had been delayed several times since its original July 17 launch date for technical reasons.

The four-ton MetOp is to be put into orbit for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. The planned launches of three MetOp satellites will cost 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 bln).