MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The president of Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation announced on Friday that his corporation will boost production of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
"We will be making approximately two more Soyuz and two Progress spacecraft a year but on a commercial basis," Nikolai Sevastyanov told a roundtable meeting on the future of the space industry at the Federation Council.
He said the U.S. Senate dropped amendments to the bill on Iran prohibiting the purchase of Russian space equipment for U.S. needs. "The bill (on amendments - Interfax) is about the be signed by the U.S. president. We expect an increase in orders," he said.
Sevastyanov said Energia plans to manufacture 62 Soyuz spacecraft for human flights and Progress spacecraft for cargo missions, twenty of them on a commercial basis, including the International Space Station (ISS).
He said delivery of a Russian multi-purpose laboratory module to ISS is planned in 2008. "We are also working on the issue of delivering small scientific modules and an energy platform to ISS," he said.
Sevastyanov said Energia is offering a much cheaper way of taking astronauts to the Moon and bringing them back than the United States.