The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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SOYUZ AT CSG, EUROPE'S MEDIUM LAUNCHER
Since 2011, the Russian-built medium-lift launcher is being launched from new facilities at Europe’s Spaceport, CSG, Centre Spatial Guyanais. These have been developed by ESA together with Roscomos, the Russian space agency, and Arianespace, the commercial operator.
Soyuz at CSG programme, strongly supported by the French space agency, CNES, complements Ariane and Vega perfectly, providing Europe with a full-range of launch services from the CSG, Europe’s Spaceport, covering payloads from large to small and medium-sized satellites.
The Soyuz launcher, in its various configurations, has been the workhorse of Russia’s manned and unmanned space programme since the 1960’s with over 1760 launchers. The Soyuz launch vehicle that is used at Europe’s Spaceport is the Soyuz-2 version known as Soyuz-ST.
With a launch location close to the equator, Soyuz-2 has an improved performance and is able to carry up to 3 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit, compared to the 1.7 tonnes that can be launched from the traditional site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.