MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax-AVN) - One of the two Soyuz-ST launches from Kourou in French Guiana has been delayed until next year, an aerospace industry representative told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"Only one Soyuz-ST rocket will be launched this year. So far the launch is planned after October 20. The second launch is delayed until the first quarter of 2012," he said.
Earlier reports said that the first Soyuz-ST launched from Kourou would deliver to orbit two satellites of the Galileo navigation system. The rocket will be brought to French Guiana in June.
The second launch was due to position the French Earth monitoring satellite Pleiades -1.
Russia and France agreed on long-term cooperation in Soyuz-ST launches from Kourou in November 2003.
Soyuz-ST is a Soyuz-2 modification developed specially for Kourou to meet European requirements for security, telemetric systems and operation parameters.