Russia and Kazakhstan to continue space cooperation

Journalists take photos of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-20M capsule carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasting off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Saturday, March 19, 2016. The Russian rocket carries NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, and Alexei Ovchinin of Roscosmos. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russia plans to continue cooperating with Kazakhstan in the space area, Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said at the meeting with Senate Chairman of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday, TASS reports.

Matviyenko said that Russia and Kazakhstan marked two anniversaries that have major importance for the common history of both countries: the Victory Day on May 9 and the 55th anniversary of the first human-space-flight on April 12.

She told that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin lifted off from the Baikonur space complex in Kazakhstan, “Of course, this is our common date and we plan to further continue our cooperation in the area of developing space ties.”

Late last month, Russia launched its first rocket from the new Vostochny spaceport in the Far Eastern Amur region. The cosmodrome is destined to become the first national facility for civilian space launches, ensuring Russia’s full-scale access to outer space and reducing the dependence of the Russian space industry on Kazakhstan’s Baikonur space center, TASS reports.