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ESA plans to carry out 2 Russian Soyuz-ST launches — official

In 2017 the ESA plans two launches from the Kourou space center in French Guiana

© EPA/S MARTIN/CNES/CSG

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MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. The European Space Agency plans to carry out two launches of Russian Soyuz-ST carrier rockets from the Kourou space center in French Guiana next year, the chief of the French space research center (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, CNES), Jean Yves Le Gall, said on Monday.

"An average of three launches are carried out from Kourou yearly. In 2017, we plan two launches. There were two launches this year, and four - last year," he said.

Last autumn, Stephane Israel, CEO of Arianespace, the world's leading satellite launch services company, said that it was planned to carry out 25 launches of Soyuz carrier rockets from Kourou in the next four years.

Russian carrier vehicles have been launched from the Kourou space center since 2011.

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