Article Posted on : - Sep 07, 2009

A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia will start the construction of its new space centre in its Far East region in 2011, a government official has said.

Construction for the new Vostochny station would be carried out in three stages which would be completed by 2018, Army Gen. Nikolai Abroskin, head of the Federal Service for the Production of Special Construction Work, was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti on Monday.

�In all, seven launch pads are to be built at the space centre, including two for manned flights and two for space freighters,� the official said. An inter agency working group has been set up and work to design elements of the station's infrastructure was in progress, the General added.

At present, Russia uses two launch sites for space carrier rockets and ballistic missiles test � the Baikonur space centre in Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, which it has leased since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia, the news agency said.