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Photos: Russian Soyuz Rocket Launches from South America

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Mating of the Upper Composite

S. Corvaja/ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE

Workers crowd around the upper composite of Soyuz VS01 on October 15, 2011. It was the first Soyuz flight to launch from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.

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Space.com Staff
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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.