PARIS, February 17th. /tass/. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos are working on cooperation options for launching Soyuz rockets from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana, and a joint report will be presented following the meetings. This was reported to TASS by the official representative of ESA Brigitte Kolmze.
"A joint task force has already been established, and experts are working on possible scenarios of cooperation related to the Soyuz at the Guiana Space Center (GCC). As soon as they prepare a report, they will present it to the heads of the two agencies," she said, responding to a request to comment on the proposal of Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin to modernize the launch complex for Soyuz in Kura for manned flights.
The decision to create an appropriate group was made following a meeting between ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher and the head of Roscosmos on July 28, 2021, the ESA press service reported. According to Kolmze, they agreed to work together to study the prospects of cooperation related to the "Union".
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at an informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for the development of the space program, said that Europe needs to strengthen its sovereignty in this area and work towards the organization of manned flights to the Moon and Mars. He expressed support for the plans proposed by ESA for the development of manned flights. As the newspaper "Figaro" reported, a decision on this topic may be made at the upcoming meeting of European ministers in the autumn of 2022.
On Thursday, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced the possibility of upgrading the Soyuz launch complex at the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana for manned launches. According to him, this would help Europeans save billions of euros and expand their capabilities to deliver astronauts to Earth orbit.
