CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A technical problem combined with a too-short launch window prevented Arianespace from sending a pair of European satellites into orbit from South America on Tuesday.

Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said the commercial launch firm will tentatively try again on Wednesday to launch the Atlantic Bird 1 communications satellite and MSG-1 weather spacecraft.

Countdown clocks at the Guiana Space Center were ticking toward an on-time liftoff Tuesday when a problem was detected between ground-based systems and the three flight computers inside the massive Ariane 5 rocket, automatically stopping the shot with three minutes left on the clock.

Engineers scrambled to fix the problem and officials even extended the original 45-minute launch window by an extra 15 minutes, but just as soon as the trouble was corrected and the countdown was to start again, a green light on the status board turned red to indicate the MSG-1 spacecraft wasn't ready to fly.

"If it's not one thing it's another," an Arianespace launch commentator said.

It wasn't clear from the Arianespace launch commentary whether the MSG-1 satellite had a technical problem or if it was just too late to fly on Tuesday.

The launch window is the critical period during which a satellite can be launched from the ground and safely reach its intended orbit. Many variables decide how long a launch window is including how capable the rocket is, the amount of time a satellite can rely on its batteries before it must be exposed to sunlight and the precise location the satellite must wind up flying over in relation to its launch site.

By the numbers, this space shot will mark Arianespace's 154th launch, the 13th of the Ariane 5 model and tenth commercial mission for Europe's most powerful booster. There have been eight Ariane launches so far this calendar year -- six of the Ariane 4 and two of the Ariane 5.