17 June 2009

Astrium and JSC National Company “Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary” today announced the signing of a first contract to build a major satellite integration centre that will be part of the future Kazakhstan national space centre in Astana. This contract is the first step of a major cooperation agreement between Kazakhstan space entities and Astrium that will lead to the construction of a satellite programme for Earth observation, as well as the actual construction of an assembly, integration and test centre.

This first phase will be to define the architecture of the centre before its actual construction begins. Astrium and JSC National Company “Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary” will run the integration centre as a joint venture.

This first contract was signed by Alain Charmeau, CEO Astrium Space Transportation and Gavyllatyp T. Murzakulov, CEO of JSC National Company “Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary”. This follows the announcement of a MoU for a strategic partnership in May 2009.