MOSCOW, Oct 11 - RIA Novosti. European partners are considering a proposal from ROSCOSMOS to create the necessary infrastructure for manned launches of the Russian sOyuz-2 rocket from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana, negotiations are underway, Sergey Savelyev, Deputy Director General of the ROSCOSMOS State Corporation for International Cooperation, told RIA Novosti.
Currently, manned launches of sOyuz rockets are carried out only from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Europe does not have its own capabilities to launch a man into space. European astronauts fly either on Russian ships or on American ones.
According to him, in case of a positive solution to the issue, financing will be required to create infrastructure for the preparation of manned launches from Kourou, as well as to provide search and rescue forces along the withdrawal route.
In June, the head of ROSCOSMOS, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the launch complex of the Russian sOyuz launch vehicle at the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana could be converted for manned spacecraft launches, including to the Chinese orbital station.
Launches of sOyuz-2 missiles in a special tropical version (sOyuz-ST) began in 2011. Since then, 24 launches of Russian sOyuz-ST rockets have been carried out from the Kourou cosmodrome. One of the launches in August 2014 ended with the launch of the European Galileo navigation satellites into an uncountable orbit due to the accident of the Fregat upper stage.
