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Russia’s Glavkosmos to promote Soyuz commercial flights on US market jointly with ILS

ILS earlier obtained permission from the US Department of State for promoting the services for the launch of Soyuz carrier rockets on the US market

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Glavkosmos (part of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos) will promote commercial flights aboard Soyuz manned spacecraft jointly with the US-based International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS, a subsidiary of the Khrunichev Space Center), Glavkosmos CEO Dmitry Loskutov said on Thursday.

ILS earlier obtained permission from the US Department of State for promoting the services for the launch of Soyuz carrier rockets on the US market. The company will also be able to offer services for space tourists aboard Soyuz manned spacecraft.

"Since recently, our company has been assigned the task of resuming commercial piloted programs, including jointly with ILS. For Glavkosmos as the foreign economic activity operator of the State Corporation Roscosmos, interacting with foreign counterparties is a natural task," the company’s press office quoted the chief executive as saying in a statement on its website.

Glavkosmos has substantial experience in taking part in the projects related to commercial manned space flights, Loskutov said.

As the Glavkosmos chief executive recalled, Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama was one of the world’s first commercial participants in space flights. He made a space travel to the Mir orbital station in December 1990 under the Russian company’s contract with the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS).

Glavkosmos is the Roscosmos subsidiary whose main task is to promote the output and services of Russian space industry enterprises on the international market and implement complex international projects. Over more than 30 years of its history, the company has signed more than 120 international contracts and launched over 140 satellites as hosted payload.