EUROPEAN SPACE CENTER IN KOUROU CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF HISTORY. GTD IS PROUD TO BE PART OF THIS SUCCESS FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS

Last week the French and European spaceport in Kourou celebrated its 50th birthday. It happened on April 9, 1968. The first rocket Veronique took off from the Guiana Space Center (CSG). Chosen among fourteen other sites, the center of Kourou is at the heart of the French space expertise. At the independence of Algeria in 1962, the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes) seeks to relocate the Hammaguir space base located in the Algerian Sahara. On April 14, 1964, "the choice of the Prime Minister, Georges Pompidou, is on Guyana", indicate the archives of the Cnes. The next two years are devoted to the installation of CNES and infrastructure on the space center. On April 9, 1968, the CSG was born. The Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou represents a window into space. With half a dozen launches every year, the whole city depends on space-related activities. Technicians from all over the world come to Korou, depending on the nationality of the communication satellites destined to defy gravity on board of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket. With more than 630 launches and 1,700 employees, Kourou guarantees Europe independent access to space thanks to the Ariane 5 launcher. Seven years ago, the European Space Agency (ESA) transferred to Arianespace the new launch platform for the Russian Soyuz rocket. The European rocket Vega is also launched and by 2020 Kourou prepares the arrival of the Ariane 6. The future European launcher required the creation of a new launching platform that occupies an area of 170 hectares and its development cost is estimated at 600 million euros. GTD is proud of taking part of the history of the Europe spaceport uninterruptedly since latest 80’s when GTD started the space activities. Many of our engineers (around one hundred!) have had the great opportunity to contribute to the success of the European Space race since early 90’s from French Guiana. A brilliant future is still in front of CSG, with new challenges. GTD, once more, will be there!