Putin creates commission on Vostochny Cosmodrome construction

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a resolution to create a commission for the construction of Vostochny Cosmodrome.
The document was placed on the official legal information portal.
Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin is appointed as chairman of the commission.
Putin instructed the commission to coordinate actions between bodies of state power at different levels and organizations, to establish control over efficiency of budget expenditure and to keep to schedule for putting into operation key facilities of the Vostochny Space Launch Center.
The commission consists of 18 people: head of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) Oleg Ostapenko, presidential aide Andrei Belousov, First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman, head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) Olga Dergunova and others.
In early September Putin visited the Vostochny Cosmodrome construction site and said that “all the deadlines must be met and any delay or disruption in funding must be avoided”.
He also warned that “there must be no unjustified increases” in expenditures.
“The implementation of this project should confirm the high scientific and technological status of Russia,” he said.
In his opinion, the new spaceport should become “yet another strongpoint for the development of our Far East.”
Russia's new cosmodrome
Vostochny should become operational in 2015 and start sending manned missions in 2018.
The cosmodrome is intended for launching automatic and piloted space missions under national, international and commercial programs. Its construction started in 2012 and the first launch is expected to be carried out in by 2015 on board Soyuz-2 light carrier rockets. By 2018, it will be ready to launch heavy Angara-5A rockets. The cosmodrome will also have infrastructure for future piloted missions.
More than 400 social, engineering and transport infrastructure facilities, 115 km of roads and 125 km of railroads will be built at the cosmodrome.
Experts say that the commissioning of the cosmodrome will allow Russia to carry out independent and more effective space activities, launch more space vehicles, reduce environmental impact, facilitate economic development of the region, create new jobs in related industries, and make the region more attractive to investors.