Owner of the floating cosmodrome in the Pacific Ocean, the airline S7 and Roskosmos decided to make a real revolution in the rocket and space industry. As the newspaper "Izvestia" reports, referring to its sources, the parties agreed to build the spaceport in orbit right in space. It will be possible to refuel and repair ships. And then send further to interorbital and even interplanetary trajectories. The agreement on intentions was recently signed by the head of Roskosmos Igor Komarov and the general director of S7 Space Transportation Systems (part of S7).

Of course, it's too early to say that an orbital cosmodrome will be built in general. This is a very bold and daring project, for which even Americans with their budgets never took. However, the idea itself, in the opinion of experts, is good, especially the reserve has already been created. According to the scientific director of the Space Policy Institute Ivan Moiseyev, such a cosmodrome should be created on the basis of the International Space Station (ISS), which in fact already now represents a launching pad. With the ISS, they launch so-called nanosatellites weighing up to 10 kilograms. But to start larger machines, the station will have to upgrade. It is assumed that the orbital cosmodrome will be needed for the Russian nuclear tug, the joint project of Roskosmos and Rosatom,. The installation of a megawatt class is built specifically for the exploration of the Moon and Mars, and possibly even more distant planets. The first flight is expected in 2020. By the way, in the USSR, nuclear satellites were launched more than once. The Soviet Union has gone the whole way from unsuccessful missions, like the "Space-954" that fell in Canada, to almost annual flights in high orbit - "Kosmos-1867". Sea Launch in the Pacific Ocean. Photo by: wikipedia. org In addition, the US or other countries can use the orbital cosmodrome - of course, for a fee. This is a transport space business in which both S7 and Roskosmos are interested,. And since recently the theme of mastering Mars has been heard more and more often, the project can become very popular. Moreover, since 2014, "Sea Launch" is idle and does not bring S7 that income that could bring.

The point is that the site is intended for Ukrainian Zenit rockets, and after relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated, their delivery to Russia has become much more complicated. As a replacement in Russia, the Soyuz-5 missile was specially developed for the offshore "Sea Launch". But it will not be ready before 2021, and in fact tests. Therefore, the orbital cosmodrome could become a real "wand-rescue". It remains to wait, when it will be announced at least about the approximate date of its creation.