A stylish montage presenting the new Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz rocket, and including footage of the Soyuz-Fregat qualification flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Russia, on 9 February 2000. Footage is arranged as follows:
the new Fregat upper stage; the new Fregat processing facility; the new Soyuz-Fregat Launch Vehicle Integration Building; the new Soyuz-Fregat launch pad; Soyuz-Fregat qualification flight.
The Soyuz rocket was first launched in November 1963 and has since flown more than 1,500 times. A manned version carries crews to space stations such as Mir, while an unmanned version is used to launch satellites. ESA's Cluster 2 mission will be launched on two Soyuz-Fregats in June 2000, if a second qualification flight proves successful. Mars Express will also be launched by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, in June 2003.
 

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