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Roscosmos head: matter of SKorea rocket launch not be politicized

Vladimir Popovkin said that the launching will be made in 2012

CAPE TOWN, October 3 (Itar-Tass) —— Vladimir Popovkin who heads the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), said on Monday the matter of the launch of the South Korean rocket should not be politicized. He said that the launching will be made in 2012. Popovkin spoke at the press conference of heads of the leading national space agencies at the 62nd International Astronautical Congress that opened here.

When asked by Korean reporters about the destiny of the joint project for the launching of the rocket that failed due to the second stage’s malfunction, Popovkin said: “As to the two flops with the launching of the South Korean rocket in whose manufacture the Khrunichev Center participated, all the problems have been cleared by now. What is more, the causes of the failures have become clear. The next such launch will take place next year. It must remove all the discrepancies with the Korean side. I am sure that in the two launchings the Russian stage functioned effectively. I would like the matter to be viewed as technical rather than as political,” he said.