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The Russian space agency congratulated the United States and Elon Musk’s SpaceX on the first flight, which was organized by a private company. However, experts believe that the flight should become a “signal of concern” for the Russian space agency (Roskosmos).
“The success of this mission will provide us with additional opportunities that will benefit the entire international program,” said Sergei Krikaliov, executive director of astronauts for the agency’s manned space programs, in a short video statement.
On Saturday, the new American-piloted SpaceX spacecraft Crew Dragon with two astronauts successfully launched into orbit for a test flight. It was the first American manned flight since 2011, when the US reusable spacecraft program was suspended. And since then the astronauts’ flight into space has been based exclusively on the simpler and more reliable Soyuz spacecraft.
Since then, astronauts have been training in Star Town, near Moscow, and learning Russian before taking off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
“These flights have given Moscow the opportunity to continue building Soyuz spacecraft, as well as an important voice in the negotiations for the International Space Station,” said Isabelle Sourbes-Verger, a specialist in space policy at the French National Research Center. .
The Russian space agency has also made a lot of money from flying astronauts so far: A place on the Soyuz spacecraft costs NASA around $ 80 million. AMERICAN DOLLAR.
If SpaceX begins to fly to all American astronauts, “the annual losses could exceed $ 200 million. USD, which is a huge loss to Roskosmos of approximately $ 2 billion. “Says Andrei Ionin, an expert at the Tsiolkovsky Space Academy in Moscow.”
According to ambitious SpaceX boss E. Muskas, the spot on the spaceship he created will cost 60 million. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roskosma, soon announced that Russia intended to cut the price by $ 30 million. AMERICAN DOLLAR.
Ionine is skeptical of such a plan.
SpaceX saves money by using cheap engines and producing almost all of the parts themselves, he said. “To do that, Russia would have to change its production process.”
Another possibility is the barter system proposed by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine: for every Russian an American spacecraft flies, an American could fly a Soyuz spacecraft.
VIDEO: See a historic mission: American astronauts successfully take off at SpaceX
“Alarm signal”
In a broader context, SpaceX’s emergence as a competitor should be seen as a “signal of concern” for the Russian space industry, which is “in a much worse position than its leaders acknowledge,” Ionin said.
A decade ago, much of global space flight was controlled by Russia, but now the situation has changed as competition between China and SpaceX is created.
“When we started to lose share of the flight market, Roscosmos said everything was fine because we were the only ones sending people to the International Space Station.” Now that fig leaf has fallen, “said the expert.
The Russian space sector has also been hit by a series of corruption scandals. Furthermore, it failed to innovate and only focused on “modifying Soviet technology without any major evolution,” said Ionin.
In recent years, the Russian space sector has suffered a series of setbacks: the country has lost expensive spacecraft and satellites.
The rise of SpaceX, which aims to fly to Mars, threatens to irreversibly leave Russia behind other countries, experts warn.
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