A special module for tourists should be created at the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), the launch of which Roscosmos approved last week. This was stated by the head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin at a lecture at the Summer Space School.
“I proposed to the project the creation of a separate module for visiting,” he said (quoted by TASS). Rogozin said that Roscosmos will not be engaged in suborbital flights, “like American billionaires”: “This is more a matter of private companies.”
The state corporation will develop the direction of space tourism in terms of the manned orbital program, said the head of Roscosmos. According to him, there are plans to launch a program for young scientists who could conduct experiments themselves on the International Space Station if preparations for the flight are accelerated.
On July 31, Roscosmos held a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council, following which it proposed to include in the Federal Space Program until 2025 the work on the project of a new orbital station. The state corporation said that the operation of the Russian segment of the ISS after 2024 “creates additional risks” due to the aging of a significant part of the equipment. Roscosmos has outlined the completion of the ISS in 2028. NASA believes that stable operation at the station can be maintained for longer.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov announced Russia's decision to create its own space station in April.
Since 2001, Roskosmos has been cooperating with the American company Space Adventure, when the first space tourist Denis Tito flew into orbit. Since 2020, Glavkosmos (part of the state corporation) is responsible for commercial flights of space travelers. In June, Rogozin said that Roscosmos would not “go overboard with space tourists, even if there are a lot of applications.”
