The United States said that the European Union will lose five Soyuz-2 missiles due to sanctions against Russia
The American edition of SpaceNews assessed the consequences of the suspension of the launch of Russian Soyuz-2 rockets from the European Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana. It follows from the publication that the European Union will lose five Soyuz-2 missiles after the sanctions imposed against Russia.
It is noted that in 2022 it was planned to hold two Soyuz-2 launches with four satellites of the Galileo navigation system. In 2023, the European Space Agency wanted to launch two Russian rockets - with the EarthCARE mission and with the Euclid infrared space telescope. In the same year, France planned to launch the Composante Spatiale Optique 3 (CSO-3) reconnaissance satellite on Soyuz-2.
On February 26, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said that the state corporation, in response to EU sanctions, would suspend cooperation with Europe on Soyuz-2 rocket launches from Kuru.
On February 25, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU countries approved the second package of sanctions against Russia due to a special operation in the Donbass.
In the same month, the head of Roscosmos warned about the consequences of the US blocking cooperation with Russia on the International Space Station (ISS). According to him, such a decision threatens the uncontrolled descent of the ISS from orbit and falling on the United States, Canada, India or China.
Also in February, Rogozin proposed to finalize the Kourou launch complex for launching manned spacecraft. He noted that the use of the Soyuz MS spacecraft and the Soyuz-2 rocket will allow European taxpayers to save money.
