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First residents of Tsiolkovsky to move to their new homes in November

Today, about 2,000 people are needed to ensure the space center’s operation, said a deputy chief of the center Andrei Okhlopkov

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. First residents of the city of Tsiolkovsky that is being built in the vicinity of the Vostochny space center also under construction in Russia’s Far Eastern Amur region will begin to settle in their new homes in November-early December 2015, Andrei Okhlopkov, a deputy chief of the center for operation of ground-based space infrastructure facilities, said on Monday.

"Stage one of the city construction project provides for accommodations for 6,000 people. Stage two is also meant for 6,000 people. In November-early December first residents - technical personnel of the Vostochy space center - will move to their new homes," he told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Today, about 2,000 people are needed to ensure the space center’s operation, he said, adding that the center’s overall area was about 100 square kilometers.

When asked whether it is planned to develop tourism at Vostochny, Okhlopkov said this issue is not on the current agenda. "I think it would be right to demonstrate construction and technical beauties. But as long as the construction is not over, it is wrong to invite tourists," he said.

"We will build an airdrome in cooperation with Gazprom. Apart from that, the city will have a hotel, a sports center, etc.," he said, adding that stage two of the project - the construction of an Angara space rocket complex - had been launched.

"The first Angara launch in from Vostochny is planned for 2021 in an unmanned modification. The first manned Angara launch is planned for 2023," Okhlopkov said.