(Yofie) wrote:
If the French space agency (when looking for a new site for their
spaceport in the mid-1960s to get away from their existing site in
Algeria) had not chosen French Guiana in which to put the new
spaceport, would it have chosen present-day Suriname or Guyana (given
similar geographies to French Guiana)?

The collapse of the European colonial empires was certainly poorly
timed for the space race - lots of equatorial territories suddenly
becoming independent, and all that.

Given that Suriname was a Dutch colony and Guyana a British one, I
don't think either would be a good choice for a French spaceport.
If French Guiana were unavailable, one of France's other overseas
"departements" might have been a better choice - perhaps Reunion,
or somewhere in French Polynesia?

If it were something more pan-European like the ESA, though, plenty
more options would open up, including the two you gave.

--
djb@ | Dan Birchall - Observation System Associate - Subaru Telescope.
naoj | Views I express are my own, obviously not those of my employer.
..org | Our atmospheric inversion layer keeps silly people below 3000m.