The deal will allow Russia to use Europe's space center in French Guiana
Avi Blizovsky
A Soyuz rocket on the launch pad in Baikonur. In about two years also in Koro
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Russia and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement to enable close cooperation around the use of facilities and information exchange. The Director General of the European Space Agency ASA, Jean-Pierre Durdain and the Director of the Russian Space Agency Anatoly Ferminov agreed on the agreement last week in Moscow.
As part of the agreement, the European Space Agency will allow the Russians to launch from French Guiana. The move will actually give Russia a special status in the European Space Agency.
Both sides said the agreement was a major achievement, after years of talks. The project to launch rockets and Soyuz spacecraft from Koro is just one step in a project that may lead to many more steps, Perminov said.
The parties also signed a launcher agreement according to which the two parties will exchange information regarding the design of launchers and fuel tanks. The agreement on the use of the European space center in Koro envisages the development of the infrastructure that will also be suitable for launching Soyuz-ST rockets from the site. The total cost of the project is 344 million euros, with Russia budgeting 130 million euros.
The first launch of a Soyuz spacecraft from French Guiana is tentatively scheduled for December 2006, Dordin said. Ferminov said that such a status does not mean that Russia will immediately enter the European Space Agency. According to him, working groups have been established to examine the removal of administrative or legal obstacles to the cooperation between the Russian space industry and the European Space Agency.
For news at the BBC
They knew about space operations outside the USA
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