MOSCOW (Realist English). President Vladimir Putin on Saturday took part in the official opening of the National Space Center, a new hub for Russia’s rocket and space industry built on the grounds of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.
The center, under construction since 2019, is a joint project of the Moscow city government and the state space corporation Roscosmos. It consolidates the central office and situation center of Roscosmos with key research institutes, design bureaus and industrial enterprises.
During his visit, Putin toured an exhibition of Russian spacecraft models, including the Lunokhod-2 rover, the Venera-7 interplanetary station and the Soyuz-MS-25 descent module. From the facility’s operational Mission Control Center, he held a live communication session with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov, currently working aboard the International Space Station.
The opening ceremony was attended by senior officials including First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Bakanov, heads of leading aerospace enterprises, as well as veteran cosmonauts Sergey Krikalev and Oleg Kononenko.