Nigeria blasts into space race
2003-09-27 15:43
Abuja - Nigeria entered the space age on Saturday when a Russian rocket carried the west African country's first satellite into orbit, in a delayed launch shown live on state television.
Unexplained technical problems had delayed the launch on Friday, but one day later the Cosmos rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Nigerian science and technology minister Turner Isoun said on the broadcast: "The Nigerian delegation is very happy to see this event go on successfully. We've been waiting very anxiously.
"We believe this will open a lot of opportunities for Nigeria to participate in space technology."
Once operational, the new satellite will help Nigeria monitor weather and natural disasters, map its territory and gather geographical data. The $13m project will have a lifespan of five to seven years.
15 scientists to staff gound control
The launch means that Nigeria, Africa's most-populous country, will become the continent's third state to have a presence in space, after South Africa and Algeria.
And, while the launch was carried out with Russian engineers and equipment, the satellite's ground-control station will be in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and be staffed by 15 trained Nigerian scientists.
While the saga of the satellite has been keenly followed in the Nigerian media, and is regarded as a prestige project by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government, it has not been wholly uncontroversial.
Many commentators have argued that a country where more than 80 million out of 126 million citizens live in poverty on less than a dollar a day ought not to be spending its limited resources on a space programme.
Others, however, have welcomed the launch as a good example of Nigeria applying modern science to solve some of its many problems.