French Arianespace and Roscosmos have signed an agreement for the deliveries of seven Russian Soyuz carrier rockets for launches from Kourou spaceport in 2016-2019.

      It was reported by the head of the Arianespace Stephen Israel, who spoke at the ceremony held at The Guiana Space Centre after successful, seventh launch of Soyuz with European Sentinel-1A satellite onboard.

      The satellite, designed to monitor the Earth's surface, successfully arrived at the orbit 20 minutes after the launching. "We have signed a contract with Roscosmos for delivery of seven additional Soyuz carriers. This will allow us to do launches until 2019," Mr. Israel said. "I want to personally thank the head of Roscosmos Oleg Ostapenko for his active participation in the preparation of this agreement and in general for his contribution into cooperation between Europe and Russia, between Arianespace and Roscosmos," the head of the French corporation underlined.