Posted: Wed, Feb 12, 2003, 7:59 AM ET (1259 GMT)
Russian officials signed a cooperation agreement with the European Space Agency on Tuesday that sets the groundwork for possible launches of Soyuz boosters from Kourou. Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov and ESA director-general Antonio Rodota signed a cooperation agreement Tuesday in PAris, superseding a previous agreement signed in 1990. The agreement covers cooperation in a wide variety of fields, most notably the potential agreement to allow Soyuz boosters to launch from ESA's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. Rosaviakosmos director Yuri Koptev told RIA Novosti that there are still three more agreements, one with ESA and two with France, that must be reached before the program can move ahead. Koptev said he expects those agreements to be reached by late May. Russian officials also said Tuesday that they were near an agreement with India to permit cooperation on civilian space programs. That cooperation could include joint work on a lunar orbiter mission India is planning later in the decade, Indian involvement in Russia's Glonass satellite navigation system, and development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle.

Related Links:

•  ESA press release
•  RIA Novosti article about Soyuz deal
•  AFP article
•  RIA Novosti article about Russia-India cooperation