You're reading: Russian rocket with two European satellites to lift off from Kourou in October

MOSCOW - A Russian Soyuz-ST launch vehicle is expected to take off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou in the fourth quarter of 2012 to place two more European Galileo navigation system satellites into orbit.

"The launch of a Soyuz-ST-B rocket equipped with a Fregat-MT upper stage has been set for October 2012," a Russian space rocket industry source told Interfax-AVN.

Two testing Galileo satellites were launched in October 2011, he said.

The Soyuz-ST-B launch vehicle was built by the Samara-based Progress Design Bureau, and the Fregat-MT upper stage was manufactured by the Lavochkin Research and Production Center, Khimki, Moscow region.

Russia and France signed an agreement on long-term cooperation to use Soyuz-ST launch vehicles at the Guiana Space Center in November 2003.

The Soyuz-ST is a modified version of the Soyuz-2 rocket and was developed especially for launches from Kourou. The new rocket’s safety features, telemetry system and operating conditions meet the European partners’ requirements.

Two Soyuz-ST launches took place last year.