Russia Building New $790m Space Center

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Construction of the Vostochny begins in 2011.

Russia is making another leap forward in space exploration. They are budgeting nearly 800 million dollars to build a new cosmodrome. What is a cosmodrome? Well, as much as I’d love to tell you that it is the Russian word for thunderdome…its a launch and space exploration facility.

The currently used Baikonur (formerly called Leninsk) facility in Kazakhstan is getting old. Although it is the first and largest space launch facility, its time for a new one. It was built during the Soviet era but has since become a rental situation due to its location. Russia would like to rely less on this facility and move forward, on Russian soil.

The new Vostochny cosmodrome is budgeted for the next three years, construction starts in 2011, they expect to on-line by 2015, and running in 2018. This new facility will be located in Uglegorsk, Amur Oblast in Eastern Russia.

Putin went on record saying that Russia believes that Vostochny will become the first of its kind for civilian use. They look forward to the independance in space studies that this facility will afford them. He also stated that the vision for this new facility includes interplanetary travel.

If this is of interest to you, please check my articles in the future. I will be writing about this as much as I can, while they are building it.

Current facility Baikonur: