TS News - Arianespace May Open Kourou

• from: owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com
• Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:10:51 +0900
• From owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com Thu Jan 9 18: 24:06 1997

TELE-satellit News, 9 January 1997

Arianespace May Open Kourou
  PARIS, France, 97/01/09 (SatND) -- Arianespace chairman Charles Bigot has
indicated that his company is willing to provide competitors with launch
opportunities in Europe's launch centre at Kourou, French Guiana. While
there are no concrete projects right now, "it's an avenue that Europe
should be exploring," said Bigot.

  He added that in addition to launching Soyuz rockets from a new launch
pad at Kourou under the Starsem contract the site could be opened up to
handle launch vehicles such as Ukraine's Tsiklon or McDonnell Douglas
Corp's Delta.

  Reportedly, McDonnell Douglas has held preliminary discussions with
Arianespace about building a launch pad at Kourou. The company's Delta
rockets are constrained by capacity limits at the two US pads (Cape
Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base). But the situation may have
changed again following McDonnell's merger agreement with Boeing Co.

  Boeing is involved in the SeaLaunch venture that uses Russian rockets to
lift satellites into orbit from a converted oil rig.

  By: Peter Klanowski
  Source: SatND
(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.

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