Posted: Thu, Jul 4, 2002, 10:32 AM ET (1432 GMT)
Asia Pacific Space Centre officials say that plans to launch Soyuz boosters from French Guiana will not affect their own efforts, Space News reported Wednesday. APSC plans to construct a spaceport on Christmas Island, an Australian Island south of Indonesia, to launch the Aurora, a derivative of the Soyuz. Arianespace officials claimed late last week that Russia had backed out of the APSC project in favor of Soyuz launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. An APSC official said those statements were "commercial disinformation from worried competitors" and that Russia was still committed to developing the Aurora for APSC. Last month ESA approved plans to allow Soyuz launches from Kourou on the condition that Arianespace have exclusive commercial use of the Soyuz; future action may hinge on whether the Aurora is sufficiently different from the Soyuz to be considered a separate launch vehicle.

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