![[orbital.png]] *Added to the Codex on* ***August 29th, 2023*** --- ### Quotes “We’re headed to a satellite launch facility in French Guiana. Holding this facility is vital to US interests in the space domain.” - US Mission Briefing “Intelligence has revealed that amidst satellite relaunches, the US is placing a prototype weapon into orbit. The launch site is here, in French Guiana." - RU Mission Briefing “The Americans had just lost Canaveral to the sea, so it didn’t take long before people started speculating that they were poking around the old EU launch site in Kourou.”[^1] - Bechir “I’d never have thought this place would be of interest to the superpowers, but the Blackout had upended a world already on its head.”[^1] - Bechir <br> ### Description For years, Kourou was a highlight of European unification and success. The European Space Agency maintained the cutting-edge Guiana Space Center with launches live-streamed to the public all over the world, hoping to make old-fashioned “international space race” conflicts a thing of the past. They succeeded until the [[Collapse of the EU|Collapse of the EU.]] By 2036, the EUSA ceased operations, leaving the French Guiana launch site largely abandoned, safe for a small group of personnel and soldiers who remained, determined to protect the symbolic peacekeeper site. When [[Codex/Key Events/The Blackout|the Blackout]] occurred, remaining personnel fled Kourou and returned to their home countries (or what remained). As the United States could no longer rely on their own technology or networks of prior allies, in 2041 the American military immediately moved in to take advantage of the rocket launch site and put new hardware back in space. It didn’t take long for Russia to notice. Now the Space Center is home to volatile conflict, with even more volatile fuel at its center. American defenses are dug in around the launch site, but a missile strike at the wrong time could blow everything sky high. The more desperate the battle gets, the more likely a crisis is to occur. [^1]: Featured in Journey of the No-Pats entry five [[Pineapple Express|"Pineapple Express."]]