Jean-Yves Le Gall, CEO of Arianespace, and Anatoly Perminov, director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, signed the supply contract Feb. 14 for the first four Soyuz vehicles that will be launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

The European-Russian partnership on Soyuz calls for launches from Baikonur under the responsibility of Starsem — a joint subsidiary of EADS/Arianespace and their Russian partners — and launches from the Guiana Space Center, under the responsibility of Arianespace. A Soyuz launch pad is under construction in French Guiana,.

The first Soyuz launch from Guiana is slated for November 2008.