More than 5 billion rubles will be allocated for the renovation of the Cosmonaut Training Center

The United Russia Party in the State Duma will support the allocation of the Cosmonaut Training Center (CPC) named after. Yu. A. Gagarin over the next three years, more than 5 billion rubles, an interlocutor in the faction told Vedomosti. Corresponding amendments to the second reading of the budget were made by a group of deputies, including the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, his first deputy Alexander Zhukov, faction leader Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the budget committee Andrei Makarov and first deputy chairman of the economic policy committee Denis Kravchenko , formerly First Deputy General Director of the United Rocket and Space Corporation.

The budget was approved in the first reading on October 26. The Budget Committee will discuss amendments to the second reading on November 11, the second reading is scheduled for November 15, and the third on November 17. Volodin has already identified support for the CPC among the areas that will require additional funding when preparing the draft federal budget for 2024 and the planning period 2025–2026. for the second reading. “A number of objects on its territory have not had repairs for about 40 years, but space exploration is the most important tool for the technological development of our country,” he said on October 26. It is possible that the amendment will be supported by all factions, says Vedomosti’s interlocutor.

He notes that 5 billion rubles. it is planned to use it to modernize the complex of CPC buildings. Over three years, in particular, it is planned to build a new sports and recreation complex for the cosmonaut corps, a multifunctional transport support complex and a large-scale reconstruction of most of the buildings of the complex. On August 28, Volodin, together with the general director of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov, Tereshkova and other deputies, visited the CPC in Star City (a visiting meeting of the State Duma Council was held there).

“On the territory of the CPC since the 1980s. “Not a single new building has been built,” deputy Kravchenko told Vedomosti. – There were only cosmetic repairs here and there. You can imagine the state of the international-level center, where our guests and partners from other countries, as well as many tourist groups, constantly come.” In the CPC since its creation in the 60s. training is taking place for domestic and foreign cosmonauts and astronauts going into space on Soyuz spacecraft. In addition to the simulators for these spacecraft, the training center has a simulator for the International Space Station, as well as other facilities necessary to prepare people for space flight. In addition, the Center conducts research and development work on the subject of manned astronautics.

News about the allocation of funds for the renovation of the CPC named after. Yu. A. Gagarin can be welcomed, since this key organization for the Russian manned space program should look decent, including to foreign partners, says Corresponding Member of the Academy of Cosmonautics Andrei Ionin. This decision itself inspires hope that Russia will continue its manned program in partnership with the BRICS countries, the possibility of which Borisov has already announced, Ionin continues. This is the optimal future for Russian manned space exploration, the expert says.

Maintaining such a center in good condition is absolutely necessary not only to preserve unique Russian competencies in the field of manned astronautics, but also to develop international cooperation in this area, says Andrey Frolov, an expert at the Center for Comprehensive European and World Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. 5 billion rubles over three years is not a very large amount, it is significantly less than the cost of a modern geostationary communications satellite, says a source close to Roscosmos.