Manned missions to Solar System planets near-term goals for Russian cosmonautics - Gagarin Center
ZVYOZDNY GORODOK, Moscow region. Oct 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia is planning to build a space transport system based on a prospective next-generation piloted spacecraft for flights to Solar System planets before 2020, said Boris Kryuchkov, Deputy Scientific Director at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
"The principal near-term goals of the Russian piloted cosmonautics (astronautics) are: to implement the Moon exploration program, to test run key technologies to prepare for the flight to Mars and to other Solar System planets," Kryuchkov told reporters at a conference in Zvyozdny Gorodok on Wednesday.
The current Russian system of selecting and training cosmonauts is not efficient enough for training inter-planetary space crews since the development of piloted astronautics sets ever new requirements for means and conditions of selection and training, he said.
"Efficient fulfillment of the tasks of carrying out current and future piloted space programs requires significant modernization and development of the Cosmonaut Training Center on the innovative basis," Kryuchkov said.
He added that the increase in space flight duration led to substantial changes in post-flight rehabilitation of cosmonauts which today involves advanced technologies.
"We already have experience in lengthy (over a year) space flights. A joint Russian-U.S. year-long flight is due in the very near future," Kryuchkov recalled.
