MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian rocket will launch a European communications satellite into orbit on December 26, Europe's space chief said Friday.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, the head of the European Space Agency, said a Soyuz carrier rocket would launch the first Galileo satellite from the Baikonur space center, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan, and the launch of a second satellite in the series would take place in April 2006.
Dordain said that Europe's next unmanned Mars mission would also be launched by Soyuz.
He said the first European astronaut, Thomas Reiter, would make his first flight to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard an American shuttle, and that it would be up to NASA, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to set the date.
Dordain added that the launch had been tentatively scheduled for next spring.
