CORRECTED-Russia launches 10-year space program

(Please read in sixth paragraph February 2003 instead of
November 2003)

By Sonia Oxley

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s government approved a 10-year
space program on Thursday and space agency chief Anatoly
Perminov said it sought growth and innovation as the industry
shakes off post-Soviet stagnation.

A space agency source said the 2006-15 Federal Space
Programme budget was around 300 billion roubles ($10.50
billion) — “substantially higher” than previously, but still
modest compared to the resources of fellow space giant the
United States.

Under the program, Russia aims to develop a new craft that
will eventually replace the 38-year-old Soyuz manned launch
vehicle, a step in a long-term plan to send astronauts to Mars.

“(The Russian space industry) has come out of stagnation
and is confidently advancing,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted
Perminov as telling a government meeting.

Russia’s 10-year budget is smaller than the one-year $16
billion budget of NASA, a fact Moscow has repeatedly pointed
out during its two-year struggle to finance the operation of
the International Space Station (ISS) during the U.S. space
shuttle’s absence.

Russia has launched all manned and cargo ships to the ISS
since NASA grounded its shuttle fleet in February 2003 after
seven astronauts were killed when Columbia disintegrated on
re-entry.

The shuttle had been due to return to flight on Wednesday
but the launch was delayed because of a technical fault.

The end of the Cold War brought to a close the space race
between the Soviet Union and the United States. In a hotly
contested battle, the two superpowers tried to outdo each other
with rocket launches and human spaceflight.

For half a century the vast resources plowed into the space
industry reaped rapid technological advance, but once the
ideological fight finished and Russia’s command economy
collapsed the funding started drying up.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said it was alarming
that the industry had lost so much ground over recent years.

“Now we are only catching up with that level which we lost,
it is alarming and needs further analysis,” Interfax quoted
Fradkov as saying at the government meeting.

“Everyone knows what sort of power we had, and it is to be
hoped that it is still in our hands.”

Plans to develop the industry could be thwarted by an aging
work force, with an average age of 48, as low wages are failing
to attract young people into the sector.

“If there is no inflow of young specialists, everything
could be lost, regardless of the money invested,” Itar-Tass
quoted Fradkov as saying. ($1=28.56 Rouble)