BAIKONUR. Oct 29 (Interfax-AVN) - It is too much early to speak about the end of Proton rocket launches from Baikonur, Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) head Oleg Ostapenko stated.
"The lessening intensity of space launches from Baikonur we have been witnessing is linked, to a large extent, to the general decline in the use of heptyl rockets but the end of the Proton program will depend on the commissioning of the Angara launch site [at the Vostochny spaceport] and it would be premature to declare the end of operations at the Proton complex," Ostapenko told employees of the Yuzhny space center in Baikonur on Tuesday.
About 70 Proton missions have been planned in the period until 2020, the Roscosmos chief noted.
Ostapenko also touched upon Baikonur operations amid the construction of the new spaceport, Vostochny.
"I can tell you that this spaceport [Baikonur] retains great prospects and no one is going to limit its missions. We are constantly discussing spaceport activity at negotiations with the Republic of Kazakhstan," he said.
Russia is leasing the Baikonur spaceport for the period until 2050.