Russia is suspending space launches from French Guiana and withdrawing its technical personnel in response to EU sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the space agency said Saturday.

"In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roskosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners over organising space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and withdrawing its technical personnel... from French Guiana," Dmitry Rogozin, chief of the Russian space agency, said on messaging app Telegram.

There are currently 87 Russian nationals in French Guiana, the agency said.

The next Soyuz launch from Kourou was scheduled for 6 April.

An agreement between the European Space Agency and Russia on the use of launchers was signed in 2005. It enabled the Russian Soyuz launchers to use Europe's spaceport in French Guiana as a launch base.

Soyuz lifted off for the first time from the spaceport in French Guiana in 2011.

On Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine that has killed dozens of people, forced more than 50,000 to flee Ukraine in just 48 hours and sparked fears of a greater conflict in Europe.

The assault has prompted a wave of new Western sanctions against Russia including an export ban that targets the defence and aerospace sectors.

Related Links
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

ESA selects payloads for Ariane 6 first flight
Paris (ESA) Feb 11, 2022
ESA in close collaboration with ArianeGroup and Arianespace has selected payloads which best fit the profile of the first mission of its new generation Ariane 6 launch vehicle from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. This selection follows ESA's announcement of opportunity in November 2021, which offered a launch to low Earth orbit for experiments up to a total mass of 80 kg and release of payloads with a combined mass of up to 800 kg. They will be hosted on a 'mass dummy' featuring a large platf ... read more