Putin Discusses Readiness of Vostochny for First Space Launch

Igor Komarov, the director general of the United Rocket and Space Corporation, said that he discussed issues on the construction of the Vostochny Space Center with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the readiness of the Vostochny Space Center for its first launch, the director general of the United Rocket and Space Corporation said Monday.

"We also discussed issues on the construction of the Vostochny Space Center, first and foremost observing the pace and terms of inaugurating the facilities, as well as its readiness for the first launch," Igor Komarov told journalists.

In April, Komarov said Russia could use the modernized Angara-5 heavy-class carrier rocket in a moon exploration program in 2025 and a manned moon landing in 2029.

Also last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of the country's defense and space industry, told President Putin that the first rocket launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome should take place this December.

The first piloted spacecraft is expected to take off from Vostochny in 2018, six years after the construction of the spaceport began in Russia's far eastern Amur region in 2012.

Vostochny will enable Russia to launch most missions from its own soil and reduce the country's reliance on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.