MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. Kazakhstan hopes to have its own module at a future orbital space station with Russia, should such a project ever materialize, the deputy minister of Kazakhstan’s defense and aerospace industry, Marat Nurguzhin, has told TASS in an interview.
"Kazakhstan was developing its own orbital module for some time during the first national space program for the International Space Station. For certain reasons the work was stalled at the sketch design phase. We see Russia as a strategic partner in exploring near and deep space and we hope that such an idea may be implemented someday," he said.
Earlier, Russian space rocket industry officials repeatedly mentioned the possibility of creating an orbital station of the modules constituting Russia’s ISS segment in case the latter’s operation is terminated after 2024.
Also, Kazakhstan hopes for going ahead with national space programs in which its cosmonauts would be able to participate.
"We look forward with hope to the possibility of another space mission by a Kazakh cosmonaut, but it is too early to contemplate this possibility for now," Nurguzhin said.
He recalled that three Kazakh cosmonauts had been in space so far.
Talgat Musabayev went to space thrice and Toktar Aubakirov and Aydin Aimbetov, once each.