Moscow: President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to build a new space launch pad, develop a new booster rocket and upgrade Russia's satellite fleet as part of an ambitious program to revive the nation's space glory.

Russia has launched all its manned missions many involving US and other foreign crew members from the Soviet-built Baikonur cosmodrome, which it leases from neighbouring Kazakhstan. While Russia plans to continue using Baikonur for several decades to come, Putin's order indicates a desire to increase the nation's self-reliance.

"We must ensure Russia's guaranteed access to space, that is a capability to make all kind of space launches satellites, manned spacecraft and interplanetary probes from our own territory," Putin said during a meeting of the presidential Security Council, which discussed the nation's space strategy.

He pledged to further increase allocations to the space programme and urged officials to speed up construction of the Far Eastern Vostochny launch facility to make it capable of handling manned space launches.

Putin said that design works on Vostochny, or Eastern, cosmodrome in the Amur region which borders China, should start this year.

Moscow pays USD115 million annually for the use of Baikonur under a deal effective through 2050. Kazakh authorities have repeatedly complained about dangers and environmental damage from failed launches.

Russia has the Plesetsk launch pad in the north, but it is used mostly for putting military satellites in orbit and is unfit for manned space launches.

The new Far Eastern cosmodrome will be built near the Svobodny launch site, which was converted from a former Soviet strategic missile base but closed last year.

Source : PTI