After a decade-long hiatus, Russia is re-launching an ambitious bid for dominion over the world’s bud-ding space tourism industry, jostling with zealous billionaires, the United States, and rising China.
Russia flaunted its comeback this month dis-patching two cosmic adventurers — Japanese bil-lionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant — to the International Space Station (ISS) in its first launch of tourists in 12 years.
Buoyed by the success, firebrand space chief Dmitry Rogozin talked up Russia’s next steps to supremacy: a special module at the ISS for Russia’s visitors, spacewalks outside the station, and — down the line — trips around the moon.
“We will not give this niche to the Americans. We are ready to fight for it,” he told reporters at a press conference as Maezawa was blasting towards the ISS on a 12-day mission.
Yet Russia’s path to industry dominance is dot-ted with new obstacles that have emerged since it was last in the game a decade ago.
Back then, the Russian space agency Roscos-mos had a monopoly on sending the cash-flushed curious to space.—AFP
