Russia looks to space future after bruising failures

Russia's recent string of space failures -- including the embarrassing loss of a satellite after the rocket carrying it fell to Earth -- come as the country tries to restructure its ageing programme.
Once the pride of the Soviet Union, the space sector was hit hard by the collapse of Communism.
Spending has risen in the past decade with Russia seeking to move away from manned spaceflight to more commercially attractive ventures.
But the industry must overcome corruption, inertia and a shortage of trained staff to take it forward, analysts say.
"There is a deficit of qualified employees, both engineers and workers. This has to do with the 1990s, when all qualified people left the industry," said editor of Space News magazine Igor Afanasyev.

Officials hope an overhaul of the Roscosmos space agency, switching to a new Angara rocket, and the opening of a mammoth cosmodrome in the Russian Far East can reinvigorate the programme.

A bill set to be presented in parliament Tuesday aims at turning the federal space agency into a state corporation, similar to other enterprises like Rosatom, which oversees Russia's nuclear sphere.
In weekend remarks following the Proton-M crash and the loss of a Mexican satellite, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the reforms would establish "clear lines of responsibility" for future failures.
"Accidents are the effect of a systemic crisis in the industry," said Rogozin.

The shake-up is designed to streamline decision-making, including on painful issues like laying off employees.
Former Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin has estimated the sector needs to shed at least 70,000 people.
Rogozin on Monday said Russia needs to speed up the retirement of its workhorse Proton rocket and switch to the next generation Angara model, which was sent on a successful test launch last year.
The Angara family of vehicles makes it possible to haul loads of up to 24.5 tonnes by using several rockets at once to bolster the launch power.
Developing the Angara has cost Russia at least $2 billion (1.7 billion euros) since the early 1990s, sparking criticism over the high cost.

The current authorities have embraced the new rocket, particularly after recent Proton failures.