The inaugural launch of Soyuz from Europe's Spaceport will take place during the last quarter of 2010.

Soyuz will soon complement the range of launchers available from the Centre Spatial Guyanais at Kourou, enabling Arianespace to offer all types of orbits for all kind of satellites in future.

Work is in progress not only at the specially built new launch pad but also on testing the historical rocket, upgraded for future lift-off from the equatorial base.

This story shows the first Soyuz launcher being prepared in Guiana and the status of the new launch pad with interviews of the main actors of this cooperation: Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General; Yannick d'Escatha, CNES President; Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace Chairman and CEO and Anatoly Perminov, Roscosmos Director.