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Top stories in the Russian press on Wednesday, July 11
Vedomosti: Russian company plans to send tourists to space for $200,000
Russian space travel company KosmoKurs signed an agreement with Scientific and Production Association of Automatics (part of the Roscosmos state corporation) to develop an on-board control-telemetry system for commercial civil-purpose rocket launchers, according to Roscosmos’ press service. The management system for KosmoKurs is expected to be manufactured within five years, Vedomosti wrote. The company plans to create a complex for sending tourists into space on a suborbital trajectory.
KosmoKurs plans to organize excursions to the altitude of Gagarin's orbit (180-220 km) along an open trajectory. In order to do this, the company intends to develop a reusable launch vehicle and a reusable spacecraft for seven seats (six tourists plus an instructor). The flight will last 15-20 minutes, including time in zero gravity - 5-6 minutes, and will cost $200,000-250,000, according to the company’s website. KosmoKurs expects to hold the first flight in 2025. The rocket will take the ship into orbit and return to Earth, and then the ship will return by itself with the help of engines and parachutes.
KosmoKurs was established in 2014, 30% owned by the company's CEO Pavel Pushkin and 70% - by Alexander Tukatsinsky, who has been on the boards of directors of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) and its large asset Kuzbassrazrezugol for many years. UMMC acts as KosmoKurs investor, more precisely, the co-owner of UMMC Iskander Makhmudov, top manager of one of Roscosmos companies told Vedomosti.
