Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre (also known as Soyuz at CSG or Arianespace Soyuz) is an ongoing ESA programme for operating Soyuz-ST launch vehicles fromGuiana Space Centre (CSG), providing medium-size launch capability for Arianespace to accompany the light Vega and heavy-lift Ariane 5.[3] The Soyuz vehicle is supplied by the Russian Federal Space Agency with TsSKB-Progress and NPO Lavochkin, while additional components are supplied by EADS, Thales Group and RUAG.[1]:28–30

The Arianespace Soyuz project was announced by the ESA in 2002. Cooperation with Russia began in two areas: construction of a launch site for Soyuz in CSG and development of the Europeanized Soyuz launch vehicle. A Programme Declaration was signed in 2003 and funding along with final approval was granted on 4 February 2005.[4][5] Initial excavation for the Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz (ELS; Soyuz Launch Complex) began in 2005, construction started in 2007, and the launch complex was completed in early 2011,[6] allowing Arianespace to offer launch services on the Europeanized Soyuz ST-B to its clients.[1][7] Two early flights, VS02 and VS04, used the Soyuz ST-A variant.[8][9] Since 2011, Arianespace has ordered a total of 23 Soyuz rockets, enough to cover its needs until 2019 at a pace of three to four launches per year.[10][11]:10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_at_the_Guiana_Space_Centre

Picture at top: A Soyuz/Ariane rocket on lift off.... The Soyuz system uses 20 engines. The SpaceX Falcon 9 uses nine engines. Approximately the Soyuz engines have to perform about "half the effort". This division of labour has been very successful. They are also "gimbled" on simple mechanical Vernier systems to maintain the thrust in the best direction possible.

The next NBN satellite will be launched from the Arianespace Soyuz.

I did not expect less. The footage of the explosion of Space X rocket was shown on TV news with the noise of the explosion brought 12 second forward, thus synchronised with the explosion. On the raw footage, the explosion noise came with a 12 second delay because the official pictures were shot from about 4.5 kilometre away for safety reason. 

And we all know about the speed of sound, which is FAR FAR FAR slower than the speed of light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BgJEXQkjNQ

Meanwhile at the office: 

Samsung has confirmed it will halt the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and prepare replacement devices for phones already sold after multiple reports of exploding batteries.

Some of Australia's biggest phone retailers stopped selling the phone this afternoon, saying the reported problems were being investigated.

Samsung, in a statement, said it would take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices for the phones already sold.

The high-end gadget was launched just weeks ago, but users have complained that a battery fault has caused some phones to explode or catch fire while being charged.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-02/samsung-galaxy-note-7-phones-pulled-from-shelves/7810474

I could be so naughty...

The rocket that blew up was taking a satellite owned not by Facebook but by an Israeli outfit called Spacecom... All their satellite launches before had been done by RUSSIAN and European rockets (Ariane)...  All successful. Only one failure out of five satellites. One bird did not work. Most likely, Spacecom would have rented the various microwave bands to Facebook and others, for profit.

Meanwhile despite the US sanctions:

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation has set November 23 as the launch date for a Proton carrier rocket with a US telecommunications satellite, the corporation’s schedule published on Thursday stated.

"The launch of the EchoStar-21 unmanned spacecraft on the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Briz-M upper stage is scheduled from Baikonur on November 23," the schedule states.

EchoStar 21, built by Space Systems/Loral with estimated operational life of 15 years, is expected to extend constellation of Echostar satellites and will provide 2 GHz mobile voice and data communications utilizing S-band transponders mainly with European coverage.

http://sputniknews.com/science/20160901/1044857033/roscosmos-proton-echostar-21.html

So why are businesses in the USA using Russia to launch stuff into space... Is reliability a factor?... or payload? 

 Israel's Space Communication said on Sunday it could seek $50 million or a free flight from Elon Musk's SpaceX after a Spacecom communications satellite was destroyed last week by an explosion at SpaceX's Florida launch site.

Officials of the Israeli company said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite.

SpaceX did not immediately reply to a request Sunday morning for comment about Spacecom's claim. The company is not public, and it has not disclosed what insurance it had for the rocket or to cover launch pad damages beyond what they were required to buy by the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial U.S. launches, for liability and damage to government property.

SpaceX has more than 70 missions on its manifest, worth more than $10 billion, for commercial and government customers.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/04/satellite-owner-says-spacex-owes-it-50-million-or-a-free-flight.html 

The investigation of the SpaceX rocket explosion has taken an unexpected twist this month after a SpaceX employee visited the rival United Launch Alliance (ULA) facilities.

In September, the Falcon 9 rocket exploded during fueling before the engine test fire. So far, the incident has been labeled "the most difficult and complex" in the company's 14-year history, Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive, said. According to Washington Post, still images from the video became a reason for the visit. The pictures showed a strange shadow followed by a white spot on the roof of a nearby building of ULA, SpaceX's long-standing rival. The building is used for refurbishing rocket motors and has a Launchpad on its top

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/us/20161003/1045935338/rocket-blast-investigation.html

While the resupply mission was generally considered a success, according to Roscosmos officials it was the last time the rocket will blast off from Baikonur after several decades of non-stop service. What’s more, the Soyuz-U was in use for 43 years continuously – much longer than any orbital rocket worldwide.  

But the history of Soyuz-U is not reduced to its lifespan. Here are the most stunning facts about the legendary rocket.

The first Soyuz-U mission took place in May 1973 with a Soviet military surveillance satellite on board. Soyuz-U was an upgraded version of the R-7 launch vehicle with improved performance of first- and second-stage engines.

The first crewed mission of Soyuz-U took place on December 2, 1974, when the Soyuz 16 crew was launched in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) – the manned flight of a first-ever joint Soviet-US space project. At that time, the two-member Soviet crew of Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolay Rukavishnikov tested docking systems to be used in Apollo-Soyuz flight.

In the early 2000s, Roscosmos decided to employ Soyuz-U to launch Progress-M robotic cargo spacecraft with resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as more advanced versions of the Soyuz came into being.

read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/378315-soyuz-rocket-final-flight/