{"id":15984,"date":"2015-10-20T22:41:47","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/putin-blasts-mismanagement-at-new-russian-spaceport\/"},"modified":"2015-10-20T22:41:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:41:47","slug":"putin-blasts-mismanagement-at-new-russian-spaceport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/putin-blasts-mismanagement-at-new-russian-spaceport\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin blasts mismanagement at new Russian spaceport"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Soyuz launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Credit: Kremlin press service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first launch from Russia\u2019s new cosmodrome in the country\u2019s Far East will not occur until at least early 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week, in a widely-anticipated delay after reports of botched construction and corruption beleaguering the spaceport project.<\/p>\n

Putin traveled to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia\u2019s Amur region near the Chinese border Oct. 14 for an update on the readiness of the launch base from Russian space officials in charge of its development.<\/p>\n

Russian authorities long held to a schedule for launching the first satellite from Vostochny, which means \u201ceastern\u201d in Russian, by the end of 2015, the deadline established when Putin approved the spaceport\u2019s development in 2007.<\/p>\n

But the Russian president relaxed the timetable in his Oct. 14 visit to the Siberian spaceport, according to transcripts of a meeting between Putin and deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, whose portfolio includes the Russian space sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s set our sights on a first launch in 2016, some time in spring,\u201d Putin said. \u201cIt would be good to time this for Cosmonautics Day (April 12), but there should be no mad rush if this is not possible. Work steadily and calmly to meet the deadline that will be set soon, but just let me know what that deadline will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogozin agreed, saying that launch teams would be ready for a liftoff in mid-April, but Putin cautioned space officials to only launch when ready, according to comments released by the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

The activation of Vostochny \u2014 about 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) east of Moscow \u2014 would allow Russia to reduce its reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which the Russian government leases from the Central Asia nation for $115 million per year.<\/p>\n

\"An
An aerial view of the Soyuz launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Its design is similar to the Soyuz launch facility at the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America, with a large concrete flame pit and mobile service gantry. Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the Vostochny project, part of the civilian Russian space agency\u2019s development program, has been mired in delays and scandal.<\/p>\n

The Moscow Times reported Oct. 2 that equipment inside an assembly building at Vostochny was built to the wrong specification, and the Soyuz-2 rocket meant to fly from the cosmodrome would not fit in the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the matter of subcontractors, Spetsstroy (Vostochny\u2019s lead contractor) has brought in up to 130 such organizations,\u201d Putin said. \u201cClose supervision of these organizations has not been organized. The qualifications of specialists working in this area require particularly close attention because we have seen a sizeable number of construction flaws. It is good that these problems have been detected in good time and measures and decisions have been taken to fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several managers in charge of Vostochny\u2019s construction have been arrested for allegedly embezzling money earmarked for the launch site. Russian prosecutors said in July they had discovered $130 million in theft at the construction site, according to Russia\u2019s Tass news agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realize that we are building a unique facility here, perhaps the most advanced and high-tech site of its kind in the world, and we understand that new ideas and solutions can arise during the project, but at the same time, we do need to keep the deadlines in mind and not let construction delays build up,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n

According to Putin, Spetsstroy received about $1.1 billion (70.4 billion rubles) for the Vostochny project from 2011 through 2015. Construction work valued at less than half that figure has been approved and documented, he said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A planned city under construction at the Vostochny Cosmodrome will be home to tens of thousands of aerospace workers and their families, complete with rail and road links, schools, and mid-rise apartments popping up from remote Siberian forests. Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe must ensure strict monitoring of funds,\u201d Putin said. \u201cWe know, sadly, that there are suspicions of criminal acts. I say \u2018suspicions\u2019 because the investigation is still underway, but I will ask the Investigative Committee to make sure that all work on opening criminal cases is completed and cases opened are sent on to the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workers went on strike at Vostochny earlier this year after not being paid on time, but Putin said the Russian government has allocated all the money needed for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make a thorough check of how these advance payments have been spent and make sure that workers\u2019 wages are not paid late,\u201d Putin said. \u201cWe know, unfortunately, that there have been such problems. Why is this happening? This is not because the state authorities have not made the needed funds available. We have been sending all the needed amounts of money according to schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is happening because there is a system of subcontractor organizations that are using funds sent for the space launch center to patch up their own holes elsewhere,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is completely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogozin, who was put in charge of Vostochny\u2019s development last year, said there are 20 criminal cases open for misappropriation, waste and fraud related to the cosmodrome\u2019s construction, and he promised wages to workers are now being paid on time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to step in with regard to any case of delays even of a few days, and overall, we have put an end to the kind of disgrace that we had at the site last spring,\u201d Rogozin said.<\/p>\n

The around-the-clock push to complete the cosmodrome\u2019s basic facilities \u2014 enough to enable a launch \u2014 was a tall order to be finished in time for a liftoff by the end of 2015, Rogozin said.<\/p>\n

Although ground facilities are complete, testing is still in its early stages, he said, adding that past experience at Soyuz launch sites such as the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia and in French Guiana shows preflight checks can take nearly a year.<\/p>\n

The Soyuz-2 rocket assigned to the first launch from Vostochny arrived at the cosmodrome in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe space sector is not the place for hasty bursts of last-minute work and super-human efforts,\u201d Putin said. \u201cWhat we need here are a steady pace of work and reliable quality. We need quality results, not victorious reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogozin said the construction is ready to move into a second phase with the installation of a launch pad for Russia\u2019s new Angara rocket, which successfully completed its first two test launches from Plesetsk in 2014.<\/p>\n

The first Angara launch from Vostochny is scheduled for 2021, he said, followed by the first piloted flight from the eastern spaceport in 2023 aboard a new-type space capsule to replace Russia\u2019s venerable Soyuz crew craft.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Soyuz launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Credit: Kremlin press service The first launch from Russia\u2019s new cosmodrome in the country\u2019s Far East will not occur until at least early 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week, in a widely-anticipated delay after reports of botched construction and corruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1832,234,352,1302,3923,3924,3814],"class_list":["post-15984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-dmitry-rogozin","tag-roscosmos","tag-russia","tag-soyuz","tag-soyuz-2","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-vostochny-cosmodrome"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}