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Press release
Evry, April 26, 2003

Success of the 1677th launch of Soyuz

The 1677th flight of a Soyuz family launch vehicle, Soyuz-FG version,
was performed on Saturday, April 26, 2003 from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Starsem and its Russian partners report that the Soyuz TMA-2 manned
transport spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit.

The launcher lifted off on schedule at 09:53 a.m. Baikonur local time
(05:53 a.m., in Paris).

Soyuz sustained launch rate confirms its position as one of the
world's primary launch vehicles. This rate also demonstrates Samara
Space Center's continuous production capacity, as well as the
operational capability of launch teams at Baikonur under the
authority of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

Starsem is the Soyuz Company, bringing together all key players
involved in the production, operation and international commercial
marketing of the world's most versatile launch vehicle. Shareholders
in Starsem are EADS (35%), the Russian Aviation and Space Agency
(25%), the Samara Space Center (25%) and Arianespace (15%).

The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently includes contracted
launches for Space Systems/Loral, Alcatel Space Industries, the
European Space Agency and Eumetsat.

For further information,
please contact
Claire COULBEAUX
+ 33 (0) 1 69 87 01 10

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