Article Posted on : - Oct 08, 2011

Soyuz spacecraft

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia has no plans to construct a new Rus-M carrier rocket by 2015, a media report said.

"We have come to the conclusion that we do not need a new rocket, we can continue using those we already have," RIA Novosti quoted Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin as saying on Friday.

According to the report, the Energia Space Corporation of Russia was assigned to construct the two-stage Rus-M carrier rocket which was suppose to replace Russia's ageing Soyuz carrier rockets.

The new carrier rocket was intended to launch new-generation spacecraft from the Vostochny space center from 2018.

Russian space agency is more concerned after facing a series of misfortunes last year. The loss of the space freighter, which was caused by a Soyuz rocket engine failure, raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet-era Soyuz spacecraft, it said.