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| - The inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 rocket will be set back until next year because the coronavirus pandemic has led to project delays at development sites, the European Space Agency said Thursday. "We can say for certain that the launch will not happen in 2020," Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of space transportation, told AFP. The ESA, which groups 13 European countries, has not indicated when in 2021 a launch from the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, may now be possible. In recent years, the Ariane project has come to face much fiercer competition, particularly from US firm Space X with its reusable launcher. But Europe sees the Ariane 6 as a chance to fight back. Neuenschwander pointed out that several sites in France, Italy and Spain were closed as a result of the different national lockdowns or were operating at reduced staffing levels. But activities were now being stepped up again. Operations were halted at the huge ELA 4 launchpad in French Guiana on March 16 when France began its lockdown. And it has only in recent days resumed with a skeleton staff with 200 due to return from metropolitan France in the coming days. Neuenschwander said the site would only be able to resume operations with just half staffing capacity around mid-June. juc/ial/cdw/spm
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