THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

KOUROU, French Guiana - One of the world's most widely used rocket launchers has arrived at a European-run space centre in South America.

It is the first time Arianespace will use the Soyuz 2-1a to launch satellites at its facility in French Guiana. The launchers were shipped from Russia.

The Soyuz, developed 40 years ago, is Russia's mainstay spacecraft.

Arianespace said Wednesday it will use the medium-lift launchers starting next year, along with the lightweight Vega. It already uses the heavy-lift Ariane 5.

Payloads at the new Soyuz launch site will be installed vertically per Western standards rather than horizontally as in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Arianespace is the commercial arm of the 13-country European Space Agency.