Enlarge / Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin visits the construction site for the launch pad for the rocket boosters of the Angara family, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. (credit: Yegor AleyevTASS via Getty Images)
A long and strikingly critical article that reviews the state of the Russian space program was published in the state-aligned newspaper MK this week.
None of the findings in the 2, 800-word article were particularly surprising. Western observers who track the particular Russian space industry realize the program is deeply troubled, and to a great extent running on typically the fumes of its past and very real glory. What is notable, however, is that a major Ruskies media outlet has published such a revelatory article for a domestic audience.
Increasingly, Russia’s space program seeks to project its greatness in space through symbolic acts rather than technological achievements—such as the launch of a Russian movie star , sending a robot nicknamed Fedor to space , or making (entirely) hollow promises about a Moon landing in 2030 . But now it has been called out on these acts within a publication closely aligned with the Russian government.
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