MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts will always have spacesuits at their disposal to perform spacewalks, the director general of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Tuesday commenting on media reports that a contract for new spacesuits have not been signed.
Currently, spacesuits for Russian cosmonauts are being produced only by the Zvezda NPO. Earlier in the day, Zvezda director general Sergei Pozdnyakov was quoted by the media as saying that Russian cosmonauts need new spacesuits, but a contract to produce them has not been signed yet.
Commenting on those reports, Rogozin wrote on Twitter: "Zvezda is outside the perimeter of Roscosmos, but, as you can guess, cosmonauts will not be left without spacesuits and will not have to perform spacewalks in their underwear."
In July, Rogozin told reporters that the corporation plans to establish an alternative spacesuit production. According to Rogozin, competition will make reaction to cosmonauts’ requests faster. In his words, the Cosmonaut Training Center head Maksim Kharlamov will shortly be tasked with "assessing potential cooperation, deciding who might take on such task.".