MOSCOW — A Russian rocket carrying three navigational satellites broke apart in a fiery explosion seconds after liftoff Tuesday morning, the ninth failure in the country’s troubled space program in the past 30 months and the third this year.

The rocket’s dramatic disintegration leaves in doubt a scheduled launch this month of a cargo vessel carrying water and other supplies to the international space station. On Tuesday, Russian officials put a hold on launches from the leased space center at Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, while they investigate the cause of the explosion and the damage to the launch site. A spokesman for the space agency Roscosmos said it is too soon to know how long the hold will be in effect.

The next crew change at the space station is scheduled for Sept. 25, also by way of Baikonur. The United States has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to and from the station.

Analysts here say Russia has been careful to maintain standards in its manned-spaceflight program, but that isn’t the case for unmanned launches.