ESA hands over keys to Soyuz launch site

Left to right: Yannick d’Escatha, President of CNES, Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace.

The official ceremony marking ESA’s handover of the Soyuz launch site to Arianespace took place on 7 May 2011 at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, after the site was declared ready for the first flight and the completion of a simulated launch campaign.