Kazakhstan hindering Russian space missions: official

MOSCOW, Feb 27, 2010 (AFP) - Kazakhstan, home of the space base used to launch rockets to the International Space Station (ISS), is interfering with Russian space missions, the head of Russia's space agency said Saturday.

"Kazakhstan's position on various matters regarding the use of the Baikonur cosmodrome is complicating the execution of tasks in Russian space exploration," Anatoly Perminov was quoted as saying.


"Kazakhstan has announced an array of approaches to the organisation of international cooperation in space, limiting Russia's role and degree of participation," he added, quoted by Interfax and ITAR-TASS.

Russia's main base for civilian space missions is the Baikonur cosmodrome, administered by Russia but located on the territory of Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that gained independence from Moscow in 1991.

Kazakhstan has moved in recent years to assert greater control over Baikonur and over activities at the space base, which include supply missions to the ISS and launches of commercial satellites.

In 2007 Kazakhstan banned launches of rockets that would pass over provinces being visited by its President Nursultan Nazarbayev after a rocket carrying a Japanese satellite crashed into the steppe upon take-off.


by Amy Coopes
© 2010 AFP