MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian-European Consultative Committee announced at a session in the Guiana Space Center that the first Russian Soyuz-ST launch vehicle could blast off from the Kourou spaceport in the fourth quarter of the year, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on its website on Tuesday.
"The Soyuz Consultative Council, which includes Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the French National Space Agency and Arianespace, held a session in French Guiana on May 11, 2010. It also confirmed that the first launch of a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center could take place in the fourth quarter of 2010," Roscosmos said.
The participants in the session assessed the progress made in the construction of a launch pad for Soyuz-ST rockets at the Kourou spaceport and adopted a schedule for assembly efforts and tests ahead of the first launch, it said.
"All Russian and European systems are undergoing qualification procedures. The first Soyuz launch vehicle that will lift off from the Guiana Space Center has already been assembled," Roscosmos said.
The May 11 meeting at the Guiana Space Center involved Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov, European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, French National Space Agency head Yannick d'Escatha and Arianespace President Jean-Yves Le Gall.