Russia faces crisis without astronauts

The leader of the Russian astronaut training center admits fewer and fewer people of this country want to fly to space.

Becoming an astronaut was a dream of many generations of Russian youth.Photo: solarnavigator.net.

Flying into space like Yuri Gagarin was once a familiar dream of many generations of Russian youths, AFP quoted Sergei Krikalyev, head of Yuri Gagarin astronaut training center in Star City - about 25 km to the east.

"Russia currently has only about 40 astronauts. We plan to recruit new astronauts, but the number of applicants is not as much as we expected , " Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. Krikalyev.

Krikalyev said the number of young people dreaming of becoming astronauts has dropped sharply since the fall of the Soviet Union. He also expressed concern about Russia having only one female astronaut. This situation is in stark contrast to the US - where many women are working as astronauts for NASA. The number of women serving in the US Air Force is also much larger than that of Russia. Krikalyev said the government needs to double its budget for the Yuri Gagarin center, which has not been upgraded for about 20 years.

"If you want the center to grow in the future, the investments need to be increased many times. Today's youths are shocked to know the working conditions at the center. They say that many of them do it. because of ideal, not money, " RIA Novosti news agency quoted him.

According to AFP, the budget for Russia's space program has plummeted since the fall of the Soviet Union. For more money, Russia launched a service to bring tourists to the International Space Station. Because Washington decided to stop using the shuttle spacecraft this year, in the next few years the US will have to depend on Russia's Soyuz to bring people into space.