Baku, Azerbaijan, September 5
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan, Russia and United Arab Emirates continue negotiations on plans for modernization of the largest in the world Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia’s State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS told Trend.
In June 2019 Russian Direct Investment Fund, in partnership with ROSCOSMOS, Middle East investors and Glavkosmos Launch Services, a subsidiary of ROSCOSMOS, announced that they are to invest $87 million in the project of modernization of Baikonur Cosmodrome.
“The negotiations on the agreement are still underway between parties and have not been finished yet… As soon as the agreement is signed more information will be disclosed,” the source in ROSCOSMOS said.
Thus, the project includes modernization of the ‘Gagarin's Start’ launch site to ensure its further operations for the launches of Soyuz-2 carrier rockets. This investment allows for updating the ground infrastructure of the spaceport, increasing the competitiveness of Russian space industry of the global market of launch services and commercializing space technologies.
As reported by RIA Novosti news agency, the ‘Gagarin's Start’ of the Baikonur Cosmodrome will be modernized for the launch of new Soyuz-2 carrier rockets by 2023.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest spaceport located in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda region.
The Cosmodrome has been build during USSR and has been used as the country's main launching facility. The spaceport is currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, and is managed jointly by the ROSCOSMOS and the Russian Aerospace Forces.
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