On behalf of Russian Government, Army General Nikolai Abroskin, director of the Federal Service for the Production of Special Construction Work, has announced that Russia will start working on the establishment of the new space center in Vostochny, a region in the far east of the country, in 2011.

Talking to reporters, the General said, “In all, seven launch pads are to be built at the space center -general Abroskin explained- including two for manned flights and two for space freighters.”

He also disclosed that the construction work will be carried out in three segments, which is likely to be finished in 2018.

At the present moment, Russia uses two launch sites for space carrier rockets and ballistic missiles examinations; the Baikonur space center in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, which it has leased since the break down of the Soviet Union, and the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia.