Success of the 1683rd launch of Soyuz

Press release
Evry, October 18, 2003
Success of the 1683rd launch of Soyuz

The 1683rd flight of a Soyuz launch vehicle was performed Saturday, October
18, 2003 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:38 a.m. Baikonur
time (7:38 a.m., in Paris).

Starsem and its Russian partners report that the Soyuz TMA-3 manned
transport spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit. The
international team is composed of Alexander Kaleri, Russian cosmonaut,
Michael Foale, American astronaut and Pedro Duque, ESA's European astronaut.

This was the 9th Soyuz family mission in 2003.

Soyuz sustained launch rate confirms its position as one of the world's
primary launch vehicles. This rate also demonstrates Samara Space Center's
continuous production capacity, as well as the operational capability of
launch teams at Baikonur under the authority of the Russian Aviation and
Space Agency.

Starsem is the Soyuz Company, bringing together all key players involved in
the production, operation and international commercial marketing of the
world's most versatile launch vehicle. Shareholders in Starsem are
Arianespace, EADS, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and the Samara
Space Center.

The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently includes contracted
launches for the European Space Agency, Eumetsat and Space Systems/Loral.

For further information,
please contact
Claire COULBEAUX
+ 33 (0) 1 69 87 01 10




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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info