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Cory Campbell
AP English
12 December 2016
We Have Lift Off... Or Do We?
Russia is caught in a storm of financially weakening events and one of the things
struggling to take off in this storm is their space program. Russia has been hit with
falling oil prices, military action in Crimea, and western sanctions, each of which has
been crippling to its economy. In the midst of these events, Russias space program has
been creating plenty of ambitious plans for the future. However, due to the falling
economy, the Russian space program has suffered through tremendous budget cuts,
removing some items from the program completely, and leaving others with major
delays.
The falling economy has been detrimental to Russias space program resulting in
immense budget cuts and national support for the program has fallen. News site Al
Jazerra News states, along with other large scale and costly projects, such as
preparations for the 2018 football world cup, state support for Russian space agency
Roscosmos has fallen victim to Russias steep economic downturn, fueled by a collapse
in global oil prices and western sanctions (Russia Slashes Space Funding amid
Economic Woes). This economic downturn and lack of support from the government
has lead officials to reduce the funding for Russias ten year space program by 60
percent! According to Lucy Schouten, this reduction puts their ten year funding at 20.5
billion dollars, which is only slightly larger than NASAs budget for one year (Schouten).

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The funding reduction has proved to be a burden to the ten year plan, resulting in
unwanted restrictions.
The budget cuts have left a significant impact on the space program
because they have resulted in items that have been completely cut out from the
program. One thing that has been cut from the program is the number of rockets that
Roscosmos is allowed to manufacture. Russian author and space expert Anatoly Zak
points out in his article titled Russia Approves its 10-Year Space Strategy how
economic downfall has forced Roscosmos to downsize, limiting the types of rockets
from eight families to just two, as well as halving the amount of rockets from the usual
twelve to just six. Journalist Matthew Bodner supports Zaks data, describing how
rocket production will be streamlined - instead of building 12 different types of vehicles
for some missions, there will just be six (Bodner). Reducing the amount of rockets
restricts the amount of material that Russia is able to transport to the International
Space Station.
Another thing that has been cut from the program is Russia's largest rocket.
Russian news reporter Tomasz Nowakowski reports that items predicted to be lost due
to budget cuts include Russia's largest space vehicle, the Angara. This rocket was quite
important to the Russian space agency because it was reusable and would have been
able to transport cosmonauts to space, and then return. Unfortunately, the development
of this reusable rocket has been abandoned (Russian Space Agency Scales Back as
Crisis Shrinks Budget). In the long run, a reusable rocket would have actually saved
the agency money, for there would be no need to manufacture a new rocket every time
something is needed to be transported into space. The problem with the reusable rocket

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is that Russia neither has the time, nor the funding to even begin the production of such
rocket.
Following the economic recession, the Russian space agency is looking for as
many ways to save money as it can. For one unlucky cosmonaut this means the denial
of his trip to space. That's right, the Russian space program has decided to cut a
cosmonaut from the team, reducing their team of three to two. In her article about
downsizing cosmonauts, Lucy Schouten explains, Trimming down the cosmonaut
quota would not only reduce costs for the agency generally, it could offer enterprising
Russian space directors a new source of revenue as the extra space could be sold for
cargo or tourist travel. As a result of economic crisis and budget cuts, this decision
downgrades a team member from a cosmonaut to a cosmo-not any more.
A brand new center for launching rockets is in Russias future and it includes dual
launching pads for twice as many rockets to take off! Well maybe not. While there are
indeed plans for a new launch center, the once highly anticipated dual launch pad
system has been reduced to just one pad. VOA news reports that the new cosmodrome
under construction has taken a huge blow and will now be reduced to one launching
pad instead of the two that were originally planned (Russian Space Agency Scales
Back). This unfortunate cut has all of the Russian space enthusiasts disappointed that
they will never see this two pad launch system put into use.
All of the program officials are anxiously awaiting the cosmodrome, but they will
have to wait longer, for the construction of the cosmodrome has been pelted with delays
and setbacks that place its completion date far beyond schedule. Journalist Akshat
Rathi explains how, in the wake of economic crisis, the former glory of Russia's space

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program has been reduced to a fraction of what it used to be. He claims, The 87.5
billion Vostochny Cosmodrome-A new launch site intended to restore roscosmoss
glory- has been hit with spiraling costs, delays, strikes and even admissions of
embezzlement (Rathi). This means that the economic situation is impacting the very
thing that could potentially save the Russian space program, but the budget cuts have
gotten the best of construction causing delays in the schedule due to lack of funding.
Clearly, this economic crisis has severely impacted Russia's space program and
the economic crisis has ruined the once great potential of the new ten year plan. Some
claim that Russias program is so far down the drain that it can never return, like Bodner
who claims that Russias space agency roscosmos may fall so far behind over the next
decade that avenues the future cooperation become hard to find. Others, however, are
optimistic about the programs future and think the program will improve as the
economy rises. In his article about Russias plan to put cosmonauts on the moon,
Anatoly Zak states, The Russian space program is completely dependent on the
performance of Russian economy and on the amount of money in the Treasury (Zak).
He follows up by saying, Those who want to know what is going to happen to the
Russian space budget next, better watch the oil prices and the value of the ruble (Zak).
Whether the program will improve in the future or not, it is clear that the current
economic situation in Russia has severely impacted the progression of their space
program and has reduced the program to only a small fragment of what it used to be.

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Works Cited

Bodner, Matthew. "Grounded: Economic Crisis Hobbles Russian Space Program." The
Moscow Times. The Moscow Times, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
Nowakowski, Tomasz. "Russia's New Space Program amid Budget Cuts." SpaceFlight
Insider. N.p., 05 May 2015. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
Rathi, Akshat. "Russias Space Program Is Great at Launching Rockets, but Not Much
Else." Quartz. N.p., 22 Oct. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
"Russia Slashes Space Funding amid Economic Woes." AJE News. Al Jazeera News,
18 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
"Russia to Scale Back Space Programme as Economic Crisis Bites." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 30 Dec. 2015. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
"Russian Space Agency Scales Back Plans as Crisis Shrinks Budget." VOA. VOA
News, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
Schouten, Lucy. "Why Russia might downsize from three cosmonauts to two."
Christian Science Monitor, 16 Aug. 2016. Global Issues in Context, Accessed 28
Nov. 2016.
Zak, Anatoly. "Russia Approves Its 10-year Space Strategy." The Planetary Society.
N.p., 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
Zak, Anatoly. "Russia's Big Plan To Finally Put Cosmonauts on the Moon." Popular
Mechanics. N.p., 06 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.