Space Systems Loral has signed a contract with Starsem, a joint venture of Russia's Samara, Arianespace and Aerospatiale, to launch 12 Globalstar satellites on three Soyuz boosters in 1999. This follows the loss of 12 satellites caused by the failure of a Zenit firing on 10 September, and brings to six the number of Soyuz Globalstar launches. Three of these, covering an initial 12 - the first planned for November - will have been completed before the end of this year.
Source: Flight International