Russia to test next-generation spacecraft

RUSSIA will test a next-generation spacecraft, build a new cosmodrome and even consider a manned mission to Mars after 2035.

However, space chief Anatoly Perminov conceded that Russian spacecraft depend too much on imported electronics.

“We have to acknowledge that imported components account for 65-70% of electronics in the spacecraft launched last year and those set to be launched this year,” Perminov said, speaking a day after the 50th anniversary of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961.