BAIKONUR. Dec 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Approximately 25 space missions have been planned for 2014 at the Baikonur Space Center but the likely number is 22-23, a Space Center spokesman said.
"More than 25 launches from Baikonur are planned for 2014. Apparently, some launches will be cancelled due to the unpreparedness of space vehicles and one may expect about 22-23 launches, which practically coincides with the yearly number of missions at the Space Center in the past decade," he told Interfax on Friday.
There will be four manned missions from Baikonur to the International Space Station (ISS) and four missions of resupply ships powered with Soyuz launch vehicles in 2014. Similar launch vehicles will put into orbit Russia's Foton-M, Resurs-P and Meteor-M satellites and the Egyptian Earth observation satellite EgyptSat-2, the source said.
The demand for the Proton-M heavy lift launch vehicle will persist. The vehicle will support about seven launches of Russian satellites (Express-AT1, Express-AT2, Luch-5V, KazSat-3, Express-AM4R, Express-AM6, Yamal-401, Express-AM7 and probably Glonass-M) and up to six launches of foreign telecom satellites (Turksat 4A, Inmarsat 5 F2, Turksat 4B, Astra 2G, MexSat-1, Inmarsat 5 F3).
There will be two Zenit-3M launches for positioning the Ukrainian telecom satellite Lybid and the Russian weather satellite Elektro-L, the source said.
The launch of a Strela rocket carrying the Kondor-E satellite, which has been delayed until 2014, may be conducted in late February, he said.
Baikonur retained the world's leadership by the number of space launches (23) in 2013.
Russia rents Baikonur from Kazakhstan for the period until 2050. The annual rent fee stands at $115 million. Baikonur operating costs amount to approximately 5 billion rubles a year.