Russia's New Cosmodome Approved

eldavojohn writes "You may recall discussing Baikonur, the Kazakhstan city rented by Russia that has been used as a launch site for quite some time. Today, Putin has just approved construction of Vostochny between 2010 and 2018 which will be positioned in the far east of Russia to complement the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northern part of the country. This is not bad news for Kazakhstan as the director of the Russian Federal Space Agency has announced they plan to operate this facility alongside Baikonur."

Comments

Re:Trust me, they will deliver...

[DerekLyons]

Despite what we in the west think about the Russians, I strongly believe they will deliver on this given their track record.

Huh? Their track record over the last fifteen odd years is of one project after another that fails to materialize - or is delivered years late.
 
 

I guess it's not in them to seek publicity unlike we in the west.

That would explain the endless stream of glossy presentations, especially from their space industry, promising ever more wonderful accomplishments. (None of which, as noted above, have ever amounted to anything.)
 
 

Now for those who might think this post is "flamebait", I'd like to remind them that the Soviet Union, much of which became today's Russia had and still has the biggest, heaviest and highest-capacity flying aircraft in service today. And this was put in service more than ten years ago...again, with little fanfare.

It's not that your post is flamebait, it's just disconnected from the facts. The AN-225 was put into service nearly twenty years ago in the Soviet Union - with a great deal of fanfare. It was then mothballed with the fall of the Soviet Union. When it was placed back into service, it wasn't Russia that placed it in service - but a private company. While it did recieve a great deal of fanfare in the appropriate circles, like all cargo aircraft it was soundly ignored by the media. Comparing it with the A-380 is comparing apples and oranges.
 
 

Ohh, what about the Space Shuttle which continues to make news whenever it's to lift off or land. On this front, the Russians just fire their Soyuz craft as if it's just another chore!

Again the disconnection with facts... It may not make the Western media, but it does the Russian each time it launches or lands.

Re:Long term, this is a good thing.

[FooAtWFU]

"but I suspect this wild success is the exception, rather than the rule."

why, whats your logic behind that, because you give very good examples of WHY such technology races benifit us then proceed to try trash it based on nothing. everytime man has been invovled in competition of this nature, he has produced better tech, and there's no reason to think we won't this time.

Couple of things. First, we've already done a Space Race. The problems of Space have been attacked, and been solved (to within the appropriate mission parameters as applicable). There are diminishing returns on research in the area. Sending a crew to the Moon, sending a crew to Mars.... it's a quantitative difference, sure, but it's not the same deal as sending people up there to begin with. Secondly, on that note, I don't think the Next Big Thing is going to be spectacularly space-related. Biotech/genetics, possibly, or maybe some nanomateriwhatever stuff, but not so much Spacey. I mean, even practical fusion power (which would be an awesome next-big-thing and which could be construed as Spacey) isn't something that you could reasonably expect to walk away from a new major space program with.

Past performance does not necessarily indicate future results... it'd be naive to assume that throwing money at space will keep coming back with awesomely wonderful things, and there are so many things that we could be spending money on, research and otherwise.