EUROPE’S SPACEPORT

Situated between a rain forest and the Atlantic coast of South America, Kourou in French Guiana, has become a familiar venue to space engineers and their customers from around the world. It is the home of the Guiana Space Centre - Europe’s Spaceport.

The high levels of efficiency, safety and reliability at Europe’s Spaceport are well known. In addition to its many European clients, the spaceport also undertakes launches for customers in the United States, Japan, Canada, India and Brazil.

When you launch a satellite eastwards, any extra speed gained from Earth’s rotation is welcome. This boost is strongest near the Equator, so Kourou is the best placed of all the world’s major spaceports. Spent rockets fall safely into the open ocean, and the same is true for launchers sent northwards, when different kinds of orbits are required.

Developed by France in the late 1960s, the launch site was then used by ESA for its Ariane rockets. The original Ariane 1 pad has been refurbished for the new Vega launcher, and a new launch facility is being made ready for the Russian Soyuz vehicle.