MODEL RELEASED. Rocket cargo section being assembled in the Starsem UCIF (Upper Composite Integration Facility) at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. This is the topmost section of the rocket that will contain the payload to be launched into space atop a Soyuz rocket. Here, an Ikar upper stage will form part of this section and be used for Globalstar communications satellites. Starsem is a French-Russian consortium that provides commercial launch services. Photographed in February 1999.