SPACE WIRE
Russia, France to sign accord soon for Kourou rocket launches
MOSCOW (AFP) Oct 06, 2003
Russia said Monday it will very soon sign an agreement with France that will enable Russian Soyuz rockets to be launched from the European cosmodrome in French Guiana.

There exists an "accord in principle to use the French cosmodrome at Kourou as a launchpad for Russian Soyuz rockets. A legal framework will very soon be signed," Prime Minister Mikhail Kassianov said in a joint press conference here with French counterpart Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

"The financing issue is practically settled, France having accepted to contribute half of the 300 million euros (351 million dollars) that the European Union has committed" to this project, Kassianov said.

Raffarin, for his part, said: "It's a major component of space cooperation between Europe and Russia, and (raises) for us the possibility of having real independence in space development."

"We are working to make the Kourou base both a great scientific base for space but also a base of independence for Europe."

Ministers holding the space portfolios in the members countries of the European Space Agency, which manages the cosmodrome in French Guiana, gave the green light to the use of the Russian rockets in May.

The first Soyuz rocket could be launched in 2006, according to a senior Russian space official, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.

SPACE.WIRE