Russia revs up the business of space

Visitors stand in front of the original descent vehicle of the Vostok spacecraft during an exhibition with the image of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin - the first human in outer space in 1961.

Moscow counts down launch of private space sector in the shadows of prolific accomplishments of its Soviet past.

 Who hasn't dreamt of flying to outer space - but without the medical examinations that deem most candidates unfit, weeks of vomit-inducing centrifuge training, or a fear of crash-landing into the ocean? 

If you want a safe and relatively cheap jump to the height Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, reached in 1961, Cosmocourse is your ride - for $250,000, or 80 times less than the $20m Dennis Tito, a US millionaire and the world's first space tourist, paid for a week aboard the International Space Station.


The Moscow-based private space company is developing a reusable, alcohol-fueled spaceship that will carry seven people to about 200km above sea level, beyond Earth's atmosphere and gravity. After several minutes of weightlessness, the parachuted ship will fall back to the spaceport.

The first launch is scheduled at Kapustin Yar, a Volga region military cosmodrome, in 2020, and the ship's design is based on tried-and-tested Soviet technology. "There is nothing new about it, the only new thing is the business idea," Pavel Pushkin, Cosmocourse's director general and former rocket designer for the Khrunichev Center, one of the world's primary spacecraft producers.

In recent years, privately owned Western space companies such as Space X, Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin have challenged the traditional, state-funded or backed corporations.

And as the market for commercial satellites, space tourism, and telecom services is expanding, Russian players are trying to carve out a niche for themselves despite their nation's economic crisis, Western sanctions, and growing government pressure.

Yaliny, a space telecom, will soon offer unlimited international phone calls and Web access from anywhere on Earth for $10 a month. Lin Industrial is developing ultra-light rockets that will weigh up to 16 tonnes and carry up to 180kg of payload.