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Russia to send more spacecraft to new national orbital station than to ISS

Russia is developing its new Oryol manned spacecraft for lunar missions

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. The frequency of flights to the future Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) will be higher compared to space missions to the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday.

"The frequency of flights will be higher and that is why it [a spacecraft] must be cheaper," the Roscosmos head said after a ceremony to present the Russian government's Yuri Gagarin Space Awards for 2021.

The Roscosmos administrator said he had given instructions to Chief Designer of the Energia Space Rocket Corporation Vladimir Solovyov to consider creating a universal crewed and resupply ship dubbed Orlyonok (a derivative of the Oryol spaceship) for flights to the ROSS. "The Energia Space Rocket Corporation will necessarily outline both the ROSS architecture and how to fly there," he pointed out.

Russia is developing its new Oryol manned spacecraft (previously known as the Federatsiya spaceship) for lunar missions. Its first flight without a crew is scheduled for December 15, 2023, from the Vostochny spaceport. Its lighter version has been dubbed Orlyonok. Roscosmos earlier announced that at least 90% of Oryol components would be used for creating the Orlyonok spaceship. The Orlyonok is expected to have two seats and be lighter compared to the four-seat Oryol spaceship.

The Roscosmos chief earlier said that Russia would develop new technical tools for manned cosmonautics at the turn of 2026-2027.

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