The first Soyuz rocket is to be launched from Kourou in 2008, Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency, said.
The Federal Space Agency's officials are sure that Kourou launches will help Russia save money. As Kourou is close to the Equator, each Soyuz launcher will be able to orbit four-ton payloads rather than the 1.5-ton payloads that the launch vehicles currently take to space from Baikonur. This means up to $60 million will be saved per launch.
Federal Industry Agency chief Boris Alyoshin believes that Soyuz launches will provide Russian companies with contracts worth a billion euros in the next five to six years. Arianespace has already received the first communications-satellite launch contract, a Federal Space Agency source added.
However, experts are skeptical about the Federal Space Agency's plans. Russia will obviously profit from Kourou launches to some extent. However, Igor Afanasyev, an expert on space technology, said communications satellites are now becoming heavier and more dependable and most telecommunications agencies already operate such satellites. Afanasyev believes that there are no guarantees that Russia will be able to make three or four launches a year.
Experts are sure that manned launches cannot be transferred from Baikonur to Kourou in the next few years, as the latter does not have the required high-safety infrastructure for manned space flights. In January 2004, Vladimir Putin and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an agreement on extending the lease on Baikonur until 2050. Russia will have to pay $115 million each year even if it launches some commercial spacecraft from Kourou, and military satellites from Plesetsk in northern Russia.
