New Russian Space Program Approved

The Russian space programme, once envied by the entire world, has been having some problems lately, especially because for the past 2 years it has single-handedly kept humankind in space, with a great financial effort on the already strained Russian space agency.

But now, with the launch of the shuttle Discovery, it seems that things are about to change. Thus, according to BBC News, the Russian government has approved a space programme for the next ten years, providing money for the development of a reusable spacecraft to replace the ageing Soyuz manned launch vehicle.

Russia also wants to start experiments to test whether it is possible for humans to make the flight to Mars, and under the plans, six volunteers will spend 500 days in a mock space module in Moscow. Over 20 volunteers have already applied to take part.

Russia's 10-year budget is smaller than the one-year $16 billion budget of NASA, a fact Moscow has repeatedly pointed out during its two-year struggle to finance the operation of the international space station (ISS) during the U.S. space shuttle's absence.

Russia has launched all manned and cargo ships to the ISS since NASA grounded its shuttle fleet in February 2003 after seven astronauts were killed when Columbia disintegrated on re-entry.