. 24/7 Space News .
Russian Cosmonauts Lament Cash Shortage

AFP file image
Moscow (AFP) Oct 04, 2004
Russian cosmonauts Monday denounced what they said were shortages in government financing of the space industry, saying Russia had lost its Soviet-era status of space pioneer.

"In the past 10 years, the volume of financing for manned space exploration has plummetted by a factor of 15 or 20," Vladimir Senkevich, the president of Russia's Tsyolkovsky Academy of Astronautics, told reporters Monday.

"Even India spends more than us on space, without mentioning Japan, China, France, Germany and a series of other European countries."

Mikhail Marov, a member of the Russian Academy of Science, said a series of space projects were being postponed or even cancelled due to lack of funding.

He cited a project to launch an automated satellite to take soil samples on the moon, Mars, Venus, and on asteroids and bring them back to earth for analysis.

"This project is ready, but is constantly being postponed because of insufficient financing," he said.

"We are poor, but we are incredibly rich in intellect," he said, lamenting that increasing numbers of young astronauts were leaving their jobs "to feed their families."

Astronauts told reporters that Russia had lost the status of leading space power it had in Soviet times, stressing their country now only had 100 satellites in orbit.

According to them, the United States -- Russia's traditional rival in space exploration -- has around 400 satellites in space, 120 of them military.

They also warned about the dangers of a collapse of Russian astronautics.

"All mankind is living under threats ... military, technological, social, cosmo-planetary. Only astronautics, with its global possibilities, can counter and prevent such threats," said Ivan Meshcheryakov, the Astronautics Academy's vice-president.

On a more optimistic note, Senkevich said Russia could soon launch a flight to the moon and would soon begin experiments aimed at sending cosmonauts on lenghthy space missions of up to 500 days.

"With favourable financing, Russia could launch a research manned flight to the moon in 2021-2023," he said.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

Expedition 9 Prepare ISS For Its Next Residents
Houston (SPX) Sep 27, 2004
With less than a month remaining in their stay aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke are preparing the orbiting laboratory for its next residents.



Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only














The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.