2 Jul 2014 15:56

Roscosmos will not buy Sea Launch

MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is not planning to buy the Sea Launch project from the consortium with the same name, Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko told Interfax-AVN.

"Roscosmos doesn't feel it necessary, nor does it have the money, to federalize Sea Launch," Ostapenko said.

In addition, we don't have full clarity about the further production of the Zenit launch vehicle at the Yuzhmash plant in Dnipropetrovsk because of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Ostapenko said. "It [Sea Launch] does not use our rocket. Roscosmos doesn't need this launch system in its current shape," he said.