Russian/Ukrainian Space cooperation revived

The Russian government is inviting Ukrainian cooperation in its Space technology programme, and is currently reported to be seeking to attract Ukrainian specialists to assemble and test the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. “Ukrainian specialists will take part in assembling and testing the piloted spacecraft. In the near future we will discuss with the Ukrainian leadership how we might pursue further cooperation in this sphere”, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He added that this cooperation demonstrates the revival of Russia-Ukrainian cooperation in the high-technology sector including space technology.

These spacecraft are currently being tested and are planned to be taken to the International space station this autumn. A leading participant in these international programmes, including Soyuz-Apollon, Interspace, Peace-NASA, and Peace-shutlle, is the rocket-space corporation ‘Energy’ created by Sergey Korolev. The company has recently been given the task of delivering carriages and goods to the International space station.