The United States and China are on course to surpass Russia in the number of space launches for the first time this year, Roscosmos said Tuesday.

"This year we will for the first time have fewer launches than the United States and China," First Deputy Director General Alexander Ivanov said.

Ivanov attributed the trade-off to the prioritization of creating several orbital groups within the Russian space program.

Russian Super-Heavy Carrier Rocket Project to Cost $23Bln - Roscosmos
Development of a new Russian super-heavy carrier rocket will cost $23 billion, Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation First Deputy Director General Alexander Ivanov said on Tuesday.

"The creation of a super heavy rocket with a launching pad will require 1.5 trillion rubles [$23 billion]," Ivanov said at a conference.

In August, head of Russia's Energia space corporation Director General Vladimir Solntsev announced that Roscosmos started work on designing a new super-heavy launch vehicle.

The new carrier rocket would allow Russia to launch a manned spaceflight to explore the deep space as part of the 2016-2025 federal space program.

Source: Sputnik News