SpaceX will launch a Spanish satellite instead of Russia

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Spanish PAZ satellite.

"Hisdesat, a Spanish government satellite communications company, has signed an agreement with the US company SpaceX to launch the PAZ Earth observation radar satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is scheduled to take place during the last quarter of 2017," the company said in a . statement

Earlier it was planned that the satellite was to be launched on the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket. According to TASS, the contract was signed back in 2015, at the same time the launch was supposed to take place, but it was postponed. Later, the Rocket Forces announced that the launches of the Dnepr missiles were suspended.

Deutsche Welle notes that Hisdesat has signed a contract with the Russian company Kosmotras and with Rosoboronexport. According to the source of the publication, the satellite was not launched due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. It is noted that it was the Russian side that stopped cooperation with Ukraine.

The Spanish company filed a lawsuit for 15 million euros against Kosmotras. Russia received this amount as an advance payment for the launch of PAZ.

In February, SpaceX delivered cargo to the International Space Station. The Dragon cargo spacecraft docked with the ISS on its second attempt. This was SpaceX's first launch from NASA's Space Center.

Alexandra Kopacheva