Russian space corporation plans 25 carrier-rocket launches in 2017

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM Russia's Roscosmos State Space Corporation plans as many as 25 carrier rocket launches this year, and about the same number of launches next year, Igor Komarov the head of Roscosmos told reporters on Tuesday, according to TASS .

"This year we have already carried out 11 launches, not including launches from Kourou spaceport (in French Guiana). We will have up to 25 launches by the end of the year," the Roscosmos chief said.

"Benchmark figures for next year are the same," he said at the Army-2017 forum that opened outside Moscow. According to the chief of the Space Corporation, this figure is expected to surge in 2019.

In 2016, Roscosmos conducted only 17 space launches, which put Russia in third place after the US and China for the first time in the past few years.