ASTANA. Dec 8 (Interfax) - The Kazakh government is not planning to send a cosmonaut on a space mission for now, the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry said in a statement on Friday.
"The government of Kazakhstan is not considering a space mission of a Kazakh cosmonaut for now," the statement said.
"Kazakhstan is definitely planning to develop a manned space exploration program at some point consistent with its space-research needs," it said.
A number of local media outlets "incorrectly reported" earlier that a Kazakh cosmonaut may go on a space mission aboard a Russian spaceship, the statement said.