- Russia has launched an ambitious, multibillion-dollar
space programme designed to restore its cash-starved space agency to its
former Soviet glory.
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- The cabinet has earmarked 305 billion roubles (£6.1
bn) [$10.6 bn] for the 2006-15 period, an amount it hopes will pave the
way for a manned mission to Mars and joint manned missions to the Moon
with Nasa.
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- Moscow's bullishness about further exploration comes
at a time when the US is nervously trying to relaunch its own shuttle programme,
which was suspended in 2003 after the Columbia disaster. An instrument
malfunction caused the eagerly awaited launch of the Discovery shuttle
to be postponed on Thursday until after the weekend.
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- Moscow is keen not to be left behind. Some of the Russian
money will be used to develop and build a new six-seater space shuttle
called Klipper that will replace the current three-seater Soyuz manned
launch vehicle which is 38 years old and in urgent need of renewal.
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- Russia's achievements in space such as Yuri Gagarin's
space flight in 1961, the world first manned mission, remain a source of
enduring national pride.
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- However, since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 its
space agency, Roskosmos, has suffered severe funding problems that have
curbed its ambitions.
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- Last year was the first since the USSR's demise that
the agency received its full funding.
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- President Vladimir Putin has made it clear, however,
that he wants Russia's space industry to rekindle its Soviet-era greatness.
For although the Cold War and the space race are over, Russia feels its
space programme is one of the few Soviet legacies it should develop and
maintain in order to qualify as "a great nation" in outsiders'
eyes and not be left behind by its old rival the United States.
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- The Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov admitted that Russia
had a lot of ground to make up. "Now we are only catching up so that
we will be back at the level we were at," he said. "Everyone
knows what sort of power we had and it is to be hoped that it is still
in our hands."
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- While the amount of funding is significant by Russian
standards it is still less than America spends on its space programme in
one year and the Russian funds are supposed to last a decade and fund a
wide array of projects.
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- One such project is a mock space flight to Mars that
will be simulated at Moscow's Star City, the headquarters of the Russian
Space Agency.
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- Six volunteers will spend 500 days locked in a spacecraft
to learn what kind of nutritional needs, breathing systems and other equipment
would be needed for a flight to the Red Planet as a rehearsal for the real
thing.
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- The volunteers will be expected to control their water
and oxygen systems and even produce some of their own food on board. Their
physical and mental health will be closely monitored.
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- Moscow hopes the money will also stretch to sending a
probe to one of Mars's moons to collect samples and that it will facilitate
the launch of new satellites.
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- © 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article299447.ece
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