The Government and scientists have made plans for the future development of the space industry.
"Just two lenses in the telescope open up a whole new world," said a young astronomer with a smile, demonstrating the rings around Saturn to Vladimir Putin." The light from this planet only reaches Earth after many years, so it really is a time machine!"
The Prime Minister did not set off to space, of course, but he watched a film on a huge screen at the Moscow Planetarium, which he was visiting on Cosmonautics Day. However, he did not have time to enjoy all the wonders of space, as the first Soviet cosmonauts were waiting for him in the hall.
Putin congratulated Alexei Leonov, Valentina Tereshkova, Boris Voltov and Viktor Gorbatko on Cosmonautics Day and awarded the famous cosmonauts the Yury Gagarin Award for their contribution to the development of the space industry. The first woman in space Valentina Tereshkova recalled her flight:
"What do we bring back from space? Research data. But not only that. The further the ship takes us, the closer we become to one another!"
At the meeting Putin suggested talking about the future of the Russian space industry. He said the first manned flight involving Russian scientists will take place in 2018. It will be launched from the Vostochny Space Centre. The cost of its construction is estimated at 30 billion roubles, which is a fifth of the overall sum being invested in the space industry. The money will be spent not only on building simple launching pads, but on creating a new centre for the Russian space industry.
"In effect, we must build a completely new, comfortable modern city. Of course, we won't repeat what we did in the past when they cut costs on people at every turn," said Putin. "Regrettably, this glorious trend is still repeated every now and then. In this case, we will have to act in a completely different manner: we must resolve problems and create decent living conditions for people."
The first test launch from the Vostochny Space Centre is due to take place in 2015.
Nina Kuzmina
