Putin tours construction site of Vostochny cosmodrome
UGLEGORSK, Amur region. Sept 2 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin toured on Tuesday the construction site of the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region, the first launch from which is planned to be carried out in 2015.
The president started his tour with the facility for preparing spacecraft, where among other things spacecraft assembly and testing will take place.
Students of construction brigades, who participating in construction work in July-August, met Putin at the entrance to the facility.
"This is a unique case, when it is possible to not just go to an interesting site and see how this is done and to even earn a little bit but to feel own profession and the possible future work right on site and to participate in a tremendous nation-wide project from ground level," Putin told the students.
According to the president, the unique cosmodrome will give Russia the opportunity of independent space launches, at that on all space program aspect. "Taking into account that it is planned to work here on remote space - on Moon and Mars, this is a prospect for decades to come," he said.
After this Russian Deputy Prime Ministry Dmitry Rogozin and Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko reported to Putin on the construction progress, all timelines scheduled on putting this facility into service and start of implementing space programs remain in effect, Rogozin said.
This summer a total of about 500 students from 13 Russian regions were engaged in the work, Spetsstroy Rossii Deputy Head Alexander Mordovets told reporters. The average pay was 30,000-35,000 rubles per month and it is planned to involve about 1,000 students in cosmodrome construction next year, he said.