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Feature story

The present and future for Soyuz come together at Starsem's latest successful launch

October 22, 2007

A delegation from the Soyuz launcher's future home in French Guiana visited the existing launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome this weekend, where invitees witnessed the successful Starsem mission that orbited four Globalstar satellites.

The Starsem Soyuz launcher with four Globalstar satellites provides a backdrop for this group photo of the French Guiana delegation at Baikonur Cosmodrome. (Click on the image for a larger version.)

The trip provided local and national elected officials from French Guiana, along with managers from the Guiana Space Center, a first-hand look at the workhorse medium-lift vehicle - which will begin operations from its new launch pad in 2009, joining Arianespace's heavy-lift Ariane 5.

"This was an excellent opportunity for leaders from French Guiana to see the Soyuz in operation as a preview to the future, when this highly capable launcher will enter service at Europe's Spaceport," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman & CEO of Arianespace and Starsem.

Delegation attendees included mayors and staff members from the French Guiana cities of Kourou, Sinnamary and Cayenne; two deputies to the French National Assembly; presidents of the regional and general councils, the Préfecture of Guyane, and the director of the Guiana Space Center.

The delegation made a stopover in Samara, Russia to tour the Soyuz production facility at the TsSKB-Progress Samara Space Center. It continued to Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome for a visit of Soyuz launch pad no. 6, where the vehicle for Starsem's October 21 mission was awaiting its liftoff. The delegation then witnessed the successful Starsem launch, which placed its four 450-kg. Globalstar satellites into the targeted low-Earth orbit.

Construction of the new Soyuz launch site in French Guiana is well advanced as the facility takes shape. Its launch pad is patterned after those at Baikonur Cosmodrome - where Soyuz ushered in the space age 50 years ago, while certain infrastructure elements are being adapted to the Spaceport's specific commercial and operational requirements.