WORLD> Europe
Arianespace, Russia in launch contract
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-20 21:58

MOSCOW - The commercial arm of the European Space Agency, Arianespace, is to buy 10 Soyuz booster rockets for launch from a facility in French Guiana under a contract signed Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.

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The deal was signed by Arianespace chairman Jean-Yves Le Gall and the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, after a French-Russian governmental cooperation commission meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, RIA-Novosti, Interfax and ITAR-Tass reported.

Le Gall said the contract for the 10 Soyuz-ST boosters was worth US$300 million to US$400 million, the reports said. They said the rockets would be launched from the Kourou launch center in the South American nation of French Guiana, starting next year.

Russia generates income by marketing its booster rockets and its own Baikonur launch facility, in neighboring Kazakhstan, for commercial satellite launches. Roskosmos said a Canadian telecommunications satellite, Nimiq 4, was successful launched from Baikonur on Saturday and entered orbit.