Workers in French Guiana are on strike, preventing a private space company from launching two satellites into orbit.
Workers erected a barricade in front of a launch pad where French company Arianespace planned to launch a rocket and carry two satellites into orbit. The launch was postponed for at least a day.
“Due to a strike, the scheduled transfer operation to move the rocket from the final assembly building to the launching zone could not go ahead,” Arianespace said in a press statement. “Arianespace has been obliged to postpone the transfer 24 hours.”
The strike appears to have been organized by employees from a nearby public energy company in French Guiana. France and the European Union launch satellites from Guiana because it is near the equator, which makes launching rockets easier.
This spaceport has a long history of strikes delaying operations. The current strike does not appear to have been sanctioned, based on the expiration of a contract. Instead, it appears to have been a wildcat strike, which was created to pressure the company into giving the strikers more money.
The launch was supposed to send two communications satellites into orbit. One of these satellites would provide video and data services to Korea, while the other was intended to provide strategic communications for the Brazilian government and military services.
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