SOYUZ AT CSG, EUROPE'S MEDIUM LAUNCHER

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.