Launch of Russian Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft cancelled at the last minute

The launch of a Russian Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, which was meant to carry Russian and Belarusian cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), was cancelled at the last minute on Thursday.

"Launch!" mission control said as the rocket was shown at its launch site at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with its main support shown moving away. Then the words "automatic cancellation of the launch" came over the live stream.

Those presenting the live stream for Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said: "Unfortunately friends, a command has been sounded to cancel the launch."