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New Soyuz Launch Facility Near the Equator

Posted by Soulskill on from the wish-we-could-do-that-space-thing dept.

tcd004 writes "Russian and French teams are currently hard at work in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, building the first Soyuz launch facility in the Western Hemisphere. Soyuz rockets normally carry 3,500 pound payloads into orbit, but from the French Guiana spaceport, the rocket will have an added benefit of being near the equator where the Earth's spin makes launching slightly easier. This extra boost allows Soyuz to deliver a 6,600 pound payload into orbit. The first launches are scheduled for October."

6 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Building? by Leuf · · Score: 4, Informative

    Considering according to TFA they had a launch dry run back in May and launching in two months I don't think there's too much building going on at this point.

  2. Re:Whoa. That's a lot more payload! by Isaac-1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now can we change the orbital inclination of the ISS to something more sane?

  3. Re:Whoa. That's a lot more payload! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, Cape Canaveral is about 28 degrees latitude, while the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan is 46 degrees. We'd gain something by going to the French Guiana facility's 5 degrees, but nowhere near as much. (The extra velocity kick from Earth's rotation is proportional to the cosine of latitude.)

  4. Re:A bit ironic ... by Frangible · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is because Russia has a superior and far more efficient form of government than we do.

    Head of space appropriations committee... Vladimir Putin
    Head of Federal Space Agency... Vladimir Putin
    Head of Department of Revenue... Vladimir Putin
    Space Agency Oversight Committee... Vladimir Putin
    Director of Cosmodrone Development... Vladimir Putin
    Soyuz Launch Officer... Vladimir Putin
    Cosmonauts No. 1 - 6... Vladimir Putin
    Women's Tennis Quality Oversight... Vladimir Putin

    And that, comrade, is why Russia won the space race.

  5. Retard system by andresambrois · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I find it baffling that, in this day and age, one can still read news articles using the imperial system. About space travel, of all things.

    1. Re:Retard system by Laser+Dan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I find it baffling that, in this day and age, one can still read news articles using the imperial system. About space travel, of all things.

      Well 6,600 pounds is 2,994 kg, so I suspect that the actual value is 3,000 kg and it has been converted to pounds for for certain poor backwards readers.