The 1663rd successful flight of a Soyuz launch vehicle was performed Sunday,
October 21, 2001 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Starsem and its Russian partners report that the Soyuz TM-33 manned
transport spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit.
The launcher lifted off on schedule at 2:59 p.m. Baikonur local time (10:59
a.m. in Paris).
This ninth Soyuz mission in 2001 marked the 67th consecutive successful
launch for the Soyuz vehicle family. 10 of these 67 successes were manned
flights.
Soyuz sustained launch rate confirms its position as one of the world’s
primary launch vehicles. The 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 EADS
(35%), the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (25%), the Samara Space Center
(25%) and Arianespace (15%).
The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently includes contracted
launches for Space Systems/Loral, Alcatel Space Industries, the European
Space Agency and Eumetsat.
For further information,
please contact
Claire COULBEAUX + 33 (0) 1 56 80 06 60
communication@starsem.com
