On the occasion of Cosmonautics Day, in honor of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man to go into Earth orbit, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated yesterday that Russia’s future lies in space science and other applications of advanced technology. “Each of us is experiencing special feelings today, including genuine pride for the generations that accomplished a grandiose technological breakthrough, and faith in the future, in our might and progressive development and confidence that we will certainly achieve all our goals. I am confident that this will be so,” he said at an award ceremony at Vostochny. (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/68179)
Putin pointed out that the Soviet Union, at the time of Gagarin’s 1961 flight, was also the subject of technological sanctions and isolation. This did not stop the Soviet Union then, nor will it stop Russia today, Putin insisted.
“We will certainly implement – consistently and in a persistent manner – all the plans we have mapped out. We will continue developing a new-generation transport spacecraft and space nuclear energy technologies, where undoubtedly, we have made a very good head start and possess absolutely obvious advantages. We will resume the Moon-exploration program: I am referring to the [planned] launch of an autonomous craft, the Luna 25 robotized space system, from Vostochny Cosmodrome.
