NEWS: Russian Rockets to Launch from French South American base

Russian rockets will be launched from the European Space Agency's spaceport in French Guiana in 2008, following an agreement signed on Monday. The rockets will launch medium-weight satellite payloads into orbit and might one day send people into space. Russia usually launches its Soyuz rockets from a leased base in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, while the French rocket company Arianespace launches its own rockets from the European Space Agency's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the north coast of South America.



I wonder if Russia has plans for more military projects in space or could it be the French who want the use of the Russian rockets? Both are strong possibilities. There is also a third possibility perhaps Russia wants to promote commercial space travel, who knows? See second link below for information on the French using Russian rockets.

Related News Links:
en.rian.ru

[edit on 4/12/2005 by shots]

[edit on 4/12/2005 by shots]

Shouldn't we watch that? France is supposedly an ally of ours but dealing with Russia who is still a rogue.

To that I would say that the US is way more of a dangerous rogue than Russia and no it shouldnt be a worry, what this does is makes already the incredibly cheap and reliable Russian rockets should be even cheaper to launch. Plus the US does more dealings with Russia in regards to space than Europe I believe.

thanks,
drfunk

[edit on 13-4-2005 by drfunk]

Originally posted by drfunk
To that I would say that the US is way more of a dangerous rogue than Russia and no it shouldnt be a worry,
.............

Yeah...i guess that's why we keep losing nukes from the US and end up with the Chinese, North Korean, Iranian, governments and other devious people, terrorist or anyone with enough money to buy them, in the world....

i guess it doesn't matter that we have seen how the kremlin and Putin himself deals with competition for power in Russia and the former states, by poisoning the opposition, suicides in which somehow a person can shoot himself twice in the head, by branding presidents of former Russian states terrorists even thou no proof is given and then killing them, and how other opposition leaders get killed under other strange circumstances etc, etc....

[edit on 13-4-2005 by Muaddib]

European Ariane is the cheapest and most reliable orbital transportation .. no wonder they won the russian contract...

Originally posted by Muaddib
Yeah...i guess that's why we keep losing nukes from the US and end up with the Chinese, North Korean, Iranian, governments and other devious people, terrorist or anyone with enough money to buy them, in the world....

i guess it doesn't matter that we have seen how the kremlin and Putin himself deals with competition for power in Russia and the former states, by poisoning the opposition, suicides in which somehow a person can shoot himself twice in the head, by branding presidents of former Russian states terrorists even thou no proof is given and then killing them, and how other opposition leaders get killed under other strange circumstances etc, etc....

[edit on 13-4-2005 by Muaddib]

Oh my Oh my, what did Putin do ? Sending one jewish billionaire to labor camp seems to be worse than crimes against God

I am glad somebody is Investing in something other than Weapons.

Should be more of this kind of news - countries being partners in Space Race.

Here another source for this news:

turkish.press



[edit on 13/4/05 by Souljah]

Originally posted by krotzkrotz
European Ariane is the cheapest and most reliable orbital transportation .. no wonder they won the russian contract...

THis isnt about using the Ariane rocket to launch goods, this is about using the launch facilities to launch Russian rockets from. By being closer to the equator, they can get an extra 'free' boost from the earths rotation meaning that they can either use smaller rockets to get into the same orbit or launch larger payloads cheaper.

Russian Proton boosters will be shipped to the site for launching.

Now now, guys, don't get all Paranoid, Russia isn't interested in a war.
However they are interested in alying with Brazil...

Not interested in War? How about a new Russian union? Why else would Putin want a foothold in South America and why also would he want a puppet in Ukraine so bad? the Russians are no saints, just look at Yushenko.

interesting, that Russian boosters are now the launcher of choice over all they hype over Ariane for commercial launches.

All we could hear from anti-NASA pundits for years was how good the Ariane system was, how reliable, cheap, etc. And anti-military naysayers who claimed that nothing built from the arms race-American or Soviet-could be worth anything at all in a world of peace.

Now Russian built boosters, developed exclusively for the purpose of mass destruction and warfare, are leading the charge of the new space race.

Meanwhile, military budget cuts to Air Force programs leave us with only Titan derived capability-and nothing at all available for civilian or non-military boosters.

Surely we can crank up the old Atlas plants, or even the MX and Midgetman factories, and make commercial boosters from those? The Midgetman would be perfect for small payloads like picosats and microprobes. Reliable and easy to ship, too-fitting on standard gauge railroads.

Hell, if nothing else, for national pride..no, wait, we're not allowed national pride anymore are we?

Originally posted by CAConrad0825
Not interested in War? How about a new Russian union?

Why else would Putin want a foothold in South America and why also would he want a puppet in Ukraine so bad?

Renting a pad is not "getting a foothold". Puh-leeze.

the Russians are no saints, just look at Yushenko.

He's Ukranian. All right, he's probably no saint anyway

Originally posted by Aelita

Renting a pad is not "getting a foothold". Puh-leeze.

It could be if the lease has an option to purchase