On the 21th of March 1964, General de Gaulle made an announcement to the crowd in Cayenne : ‘‘We have a great work to do in Guyana’’. This film recounts this key moment in the French spatial political history, also crucial for French Overseas Territories: the announcement of the creation of the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou. How and why has France gone for the space race ? This film goes behind the scenes of this history, first looking back in time to 1945 and trying to understand how scientists and soldiers have pooled their strenghts to invest this field of study. Since its return to power in 1958, how did De Gaulle want France to compete with both American and Soviet superpowers in their space race ? It is also a question of understanding how, in only 4 years, France has built a space base in Guyana, embarking in an enormous project that would definitely change the stability of the region.

Photo © CNES, 1968