Russian new launch ramp by Claudia Sonea

Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax reported on Wednesday that a second front will be opened. Not to be alarmed, it's all about a new launch site for manned flights that according to First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov will be constructed by 2018. Until now Russia's space program relied neighboring Kazakhstan, but they decided to make one of their own in the south-east part of the country, at the border with China. It will be in the Amur region, it will be called Vostochny and will be an alternative to the Baikonur base, a Soviet-built facility that Russia now leases from Kazakhstan. They expect for the cosmodrom to be ready for rocket launches of any type by 2016 and for manned flights by 2018. Both Russia and USA have the most active space programs and they have been competition for the first place since the first manned flight. Right behind them is China's Jiuquan Space Centre. The new base will be built on the site of unfinished facility previously known as Svobodny at the settlement of Uglegorsk, which is located in a restricted zone. Two years ago they said they will withdraw all military personnel from Baikonur for relocation to a rocket launching centre at Plesetsk near Arkhangelsk in northern Russia. The action has not yet been fulfilled. Baikonur was rented in 1994 from Kazakhstan for 115 million dollars (91 million euros) annually, and this will continue until 2050 under a new agreement signed in 2004 by President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. Even if they will withdraw all military personnel from Baikonur, the base still remains under Russian command. With two launching ramp, will they be stronger than US? More to come…

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080123/sc_afp/russiaspace_080123101601;_ylt=AlP23Bexe1TwwfcC2Wi5vkus0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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