Space Race 2.0

In his unrelenting push to shape Russia into the global superpower the Soviet Union once was, Putin plans a massive investment in the space industry. The Russian PM announced today Moscow would spend $810 million to kick off the construction of the planned Vostochny space center. The aim is to boost Russia’s competitiveness on the space launch market. The country still controls the biggest chunk of the space industry, with 37% of all space launches last year being made from Russia, but more competition is coming from Asia, Europe and the United States. The National Post reports:

“I would like to stress that our task is to strengthen Russia’s positions in the global market of space services. We need to be competitive. The situation in global market is such that we will cope with this task,” Mr. Putin said.

“I hope that Vostochny will become the first Russian national cosmodrome of civilian use, that it will guarantee us full independence in our space activities,” he told a meeting of space industry officials.