21.09.2021

The Russian government has allocated more than 4.4 billion rubles ($60.6 million) to space company Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of the Roscosmos state corporation, for the production of a rocket and spaceship for tourist flights by 2024.

"To allocate in 2021 budget funds ... of 4,412,660 thousand rubles for the expenses of State Space Corporation Roscosmos", the government said in a decree, which is dated Wednesday and published earlier on Thursday on the state legal database.

According to the decree, the money is to be funnelled to Glavkosmos to fund the production of a Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle and Soyuz MS piloted cargo spaceship no later than 2024.

Glavkosmos head Dmitry Loskutov said in May that the company was already in talks with potential space tourists and was simultaneously working on putting together a reserve of Soyuz spaceships to make the first tourist flight possible in late 2023.

In early June, another Roscosmos subsidiary, spacecraft manufacturer Energia, also announced plans to build two Soyuz spaceships flights by 31 December 2023.

Quelle: SD