Russia's space industry comprises more than 100 companies and employs 250,000 people.[3] Most of the companies are descendants of Soviet design bureau and state production companies. The industry entered a deep crisis following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with its fullest effect occurring in the last years of the 1990s. Funding of the space program declined by 80% and the industry lost a large part of its work force before recovery began in the early 2000s. Many companies survived by creating joint-ventures with foreign firms and marketing their products abroad.
In the mid-2000s, as part of the general improvement in the economy, funding of the country's space program was substantially increased and a new ambitious federal space plan was introduced, resulting in a great boost to the industry. Its largest company is RKK Energiya, the main crewed space flight contractor. Leading launch vehicle producers are Khrunichev and TsSKB-Progress. The largest satellite developer is ISS Reshetnev, while NPO Lavochkin is the main developer of interplanetary probes.
As of 2013,[update] a major reorganization of the Russian space industry is underway, with increased state supervision and involvement of the ostensibly private companies formed in the early 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- ^ "Spaceflight Now – Tracking Station – Launch log".
- ^ "Space exploration in 2011". russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ Ionin, Andrey. "Russia's Space Program in 2006: Some Progress but No Clear Direction". Moscow Defense Brief (2(#8)). Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.