Russian Space Program: High Expectations, but Questionable Delivery

Russian President Putin is again talking about building a space station, but with recent rocket failures, it appears Russian needs to get back to basics.  Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated:

The task to create a new orbital station has been set by the president. This week we will report plans on the development of piloted cosmonautics to the president.

However, this announcement follows the second failure of a major rocket mission in the past month, the first being the Russian resupply spacecraft Progress 59 to the International Space Station followed by the failure of a Russian Proton-M rocket carrying a Mexican satellite.  

And all of this follows continued stories of budget cuts, construction problems at Vostochny Cosmodrome, the new space launch facility, and continued corruption within the space program.  Quoting the Deputy Prime Minister again, he stated:

With such a level of moral decay, one should not be surprised at the high accident rate.

In these tight times, expansion and corruption are not good bed fellows.  Russia needs to refocus its priorities and clean up its ranks if it wants to get off the ground. 

Image Credit:   Business Insider.  Then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, second right, looks at a plan while visiting a site of a new launch facility, cosmodrome Vostochny, outside Uglegorsk, some 3,600 miles (5800 kilometers) east of Moscow, Russia, in 2010.

Russian Rocket Problems

With all of the attention earlier this month directed at the North Korean rocket launch, most of the newspapers were ignoring a Russian rocket launch that went awry.  On December 8th, a Russian Proton rocket failed to place a satellite into correct orbit.  This was the third such failure in the last 16 months. 

The communications satellite, built by France's Thales Alenia Space, belonged to Russian oil giant Gazprom.  The Proton rocket's upper stage failed after launch, placing the satellite outside its intended orbit.  While the Russian government ordered an investigation of the mishap, Thales Alenia Space was working to get the satellite into its proper slot by firing on-board thrusters, though this is expected to reduce the life of the spacecraft. 

The satellite is expected to be in its proper orbit and functioning as intended by January 8, 2013.