Roscosmos

The State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos (Роскосмос), is a state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research. Roscosmos inherited the bulk of the vast Soviet space program following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Established in 1992 as the Russian Space Agency, its modern form resulted from a 2015 merge with the United Rocket and Space Corporation, re-nationalizing the space industry of Russia. Roscosmos is headquartered at the National Space Centre in Moscow; Mission Control Center and Star City are located in Moscow Oblast. Its cosmodromes, jointly operated with the Russian Space Forces, comprise Baikonur in Kazakhstan, the world's first and largest spaceport, Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk, and Vostochny in Amur. Its director since February 2025 is Dmitry Bakanov. Roscosmos utilizes four rockets: the heavy-lift Proton-M and Angara A5, medium-lift Soyuz-2 variants, and small-lift Angara-1.2. Roscosmos constructed seven modules of the Russian Orbital Segment on the International Space Station (ISS), founding the station with Zarya in 1998. It inherited the Soyuz program, the most flown crewed spacecraft in history. Its derivations, most recently Soyuz MS and Progress MS, service the ISS. Roscosmos extended operations aboard Mir, the first modular space station, ten years beyond its design life; its last crewed mission departed in 2000. The Russian Orbital Station is planned to be constructed from the ISS's Nauka module alongside the ISS deorbit from 2028. Roscosmos is developing the medium-lift Soyuz-5 and partially reusable methalox Soyuz-7. The Luna-Glob program aims to succeed Soviet missions to the Moon. The Luna 25 lander failed in 2023, future plans include an orbiter, polar landers, and a sample return. Mars missions Mars 96 and Fobos-Grunt failed, while its joint mission with the European Space Agency (ESA), Trace Gas Orbiter, entered orbit in 2016;...