MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - The first launch of the Soyuz 2-1A, Russia's new generation carrier rocket, from the Baikonur space center has been postponed again due to bad weather, a space industry source said Wednesday.

"The launch of the Soyuz 2-1A modernized carrier rocket, scheduled for Wednesday evening, has been put off again, this time due to bad weather conditions at an altitude of more than 11 kilometers," the source said.

The launch of the Soyuz 2-1A, which will put the European weather satellite MetOp in orbit, was also postponed Tuesday for technical reasons.

The launch of the Soyuz-2-1A with the weather satellite has been delayed several times since its original July 17 launch window for technical reasons.

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