Feature story
Preparations for the Soyuz and Vega launcher at French Guiana enter a new phase
July 25, 2008
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Preparatory activity for the introduction of Soyuz and Vega at Europe's Spaceport has marked two important milestones as major hardware shipments for these vehicles and their new launch infrastructure arrive in French Guiana.
On July 9, elements for the lightweight Vega were delivered to Kourou's Pariacabo port by the MN Colibri – which is one of two seagoing vessels used by Arianespace to transport launcher elements and related equipment from Europe.
These components are full-scale models of the Vega's Zefiro 23 second stage, Zefiro 9 third stage, and the AVUM upper stage, along with diverse hardware, tooling and structures from the Italian industrial partners in the Vega launch vehicle's ELV consortium.
This equipment – along with Vega's first stage (which is loaded with solid propellant at French Guiana) – will be used for the vehicle's qualification with its launch site infrastructure.
In parallel activity, a container ship filled with Russian-built systems and hardware for the Spaceport's new Soyuz launch complex is only days from arriving in French Guiana, having departed the Russian port of St. Petersburg on July 8 for its trans-Atlantic voyage.
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The equipment is from the Samara Space Center, KBOM and NPO Lavotchkine – the primary Russian companies involved in bringing Soyuz launch operations to the Guiana Space Center – and is carried in 160 containers that were loaded on the vessel, called the Flinterland.
Hardware aboard the Flinterland includes the service cabin, which is a major element of the Soyuz launch site that provides access to the vehicle on the pad.
Various infrastructure items needed for the operation of Soyuz and its Fregat upper stage also are aboard the Flinterland.
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