(Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Rogozin and Oleg Ostapenko visit the construction site at Vostochny Cosmodrome – Photo Credit: Alexei Druzhinin/Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged an extra 50 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) to Roscosmos to ensure that the new Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East, intended to reduce the space agency’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, would be ready to launch new-generation Soyuz-2 rockets by 2015 and Angara vehicles, currently in development, by 2020.
The increased budget came after Putin paid a visit to Vostochny earlier in the week. Although he applauded the work done thus far on the spaceport, he noted that many facilities remained behind schedule and called for the pace of construction to be picked up. The extra 50 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) should now ensure it is completed on time.
Putin has made the cosmodrome the centrepiece of a new program designed to modernize and advance the country’s aerospace industry. Russia aims to reduce its dependence on Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Roscosmos currently rents for all Russian manned and unmanned space launches, by launching their own space missions from Vostochny.
“We are putting serious money into the construction [of the Vostochny Cosmodrome],” Putin said, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website. “Since 2011, we have spent more than 100 billion rubles. Another 50 billion will be allocated in 2015.”
The construction of Vostochny is taking place in a number of stages. The first, land surveying, was completed in 2010, while phase two, the construction of launch pads for the Soyuz-2 and Angara rockets, is nearly completed. The final stage, which focuses on creating launch facilities for a super-heavy booster rocket, is set to take place between 2016 and 2018.
However, Putin believes the project is 30 to 55 days behind schedule, and warned that the cosmodrome must be ready to facilitate its first launches from next year. To guarantee this goal is met, the current 6,000-strong construction workforce is set to be doubled.
Additionally, to ensure that there are no additional delays, Putin has handed direct control of the cosmodrome’s construction to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. He will take over from Oleg Ostapenko, the head of Roscosmos.
Rogozin has already begun implementing changes, announcing that cameras had been installed throughout the complex so that he could root out workers who were slacking.
“Slackers who are not doing anything at work should know that I am watching them,” he said.
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