BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan. Dec 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia has refused to go ahead with a test for the European Space Agency in which a Volna rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, would have launched the ESA's Expert reentry vehicle from a Russian Pacific Fleet submarine, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said on Wednesday.
The capsule was ready for launching and there exists a contract on an Expert test with Russia, but the Russian side told the ESA the test was impossible, Dordain told reporters at Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome.
He said the ESA was considering other test options, using either another Russian rocket or European rocket Vega or an American rocket.