The first Russian commercial space flights carrying tourists into orbit could be organized by KosmoKurs company seven years from now, Vedomosti reports.
The company signed an agreement with the Scientific and Production Association of Automatics (part of state space agency Roscosmos) to develop an on-board control-telemetry system for commercial civil-purpose rocket launchers.
The management system for KosmoKurs is expected to be manufactured within five years, the newspaper wrote, adding that the company plans to create a complex for sending tourists into space on a suborbital trajectory.
KosmoKurs plans to organize excursions to the altitude of Gagarin’s orbit (180-220 km) along with an open trajectory. In order to do this, the company intends to develop a reusable launch vehicle and a reusable spacecraft for seven seats (six tourists plus an instructor). The flight will last 15-20 minutes, including time in zero gravity – 5-6 minutes, and will cost $200,000-250,000, according to the company’s website.
The company expects to hold the first flight in 2025. The rocket will take the ship into orbit and return to Earth, and then the ship will return by itself with the help of engines and parachutes.
KosmoKurs was established in 2014. 30% of the company is owned by the CEO Pavel Pushkin and 70% – by Alexander Tukatsinsky, who has been on the boards of directors of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) and its large asset Kuzbassrazrezugol for many years.
