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> Soyuz liftoff in French Guiana - Illustration

Soyuz liftoff in French Guiana - Illustration

author: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE/ D.Ducros/Novapix

reference: e-leu15-90001

Image Size 300 DPI: 29 * 23 cm

In 2010, a Soyuz launcher will take off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. This will be an historic event as it will be the first time that a Soyuz is launched from a spaceport other than Baikonur or Plesetsk. It will also be a milestone in the strategic cooperation between Europe and Russia on launchers. The Soyuz launch vehicle that will be used at Europe's Spaceport is the Soyuz-2 version called Soyuz-ST. This includes the Fregat upper stage and the ST fairing. Soyuz-2 is the most recent version of the renowned family of Russian launchers that began the space race more than 50 years ago by launching Sputnik, the first satellite placed in orbit, and then sending the first man into space. Soyuz-2 will have improved performance and be able to carry up to 3 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit, compared to the 1.7 tonnes that can be launched from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

Keywords for this photo:

2010 - ESA - GUIANA SPACE CENTER - ILLUSTRATION - KOUROU - LAUNCH - LAUNCH PAD - LAUNCHER - ROCKET - SOYUZ - SOYUZ-2 - SOYUZ-ST - SPACE - SPACE CENTER -