Kazakhstan Open to Hosting Western Spacecraft Launches

By The Moscow Times

Nov. 6, 2013

Kazakhstan's National Space Agency, Kazcosmos, is not ruling out launches of Western spacecraft from the Baikonur space center currently rented to Russia until 2050, Kazakh media reported Tuesday.

Many Western countries and former Soviet states have expressed interest in using the space center, the agency's officials said, the Tengrinews.kz news website reported.

Kazcosmos has not ruled out that it "could work jointly with Western countries [in the future] if it is economically viable," the officials told the Kazakh website.

Russia has rented the space center from Kazakhstan since 1994. The annual fee is $115 million.

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