Soyuz Infrastructures in Guiana

Building a new launch complex is never easy, even more so when it involves mixing technologies from different design cultures. But that is what the European Space Agency, the French Space Agency CNES and Arianespace have succeeded in doing with Soyuz in French Guiana.

When the legendary Russian rocket lifts off for the first time from its pad at Sinamary near Kourou on 20 October - carrying two spacecraft for Europe's Galileo satellite navigation programme - it will mark the end of more than six years of intense work, of gigantic proportions.

This A & B-Roll presents the new infrastructures for Soyuz in French Guiana and the changes that have been brought to the Russian system.

It includes interviews with:

- Antonio Fabrizi, Director of Launchers at ESA
- Yannick D'Escatha, President of the French Space Agency CNES
and extensive views of the launch zone during its construction and earlier this year during launch operation rehearsals. Interviews are in French and English.

More backgroud information can be found on: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Galileo_IOV/index.html