Russia, SKorea to continue aerospace cooperation - expert

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russian-South Korean aerospace
cooperation opens a broad perspective, and will certainly continue despite
some failures, director general of the Khrunichev research and production
centre Vladimir Nesterov said.
"I'm sure that even after the second abortive attempt to launch the
Korean booster rocket with the first Russian stage, the specialists of the
two countries are interested in continuing cooperation," Nesterov
underlined in an interview to Itar-Tass and the influential South Korean
newspaper JoonAng Ilbo, ahead of President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to
South Korea.
"Everybody wishes a long-standing joint work to yield a positive
result. That is why our specialists have been studying the reasons behind
the second unsuccessful launch so thoroughly and so long. I'm sure that by
the results of the commission's work we'll be able to find the right
decision and determine the guidelines for further interaction.
"We should not forget that the beginning of operation of rocket
systems is a rather difficult issue. The record of space launches has many
examples when the first and subsequent launches of a new booster ended in
failure. And this rocket is absolutely new.
"Secondly, the objective of the technical commissions and joint work
by specialists of the two countries is to thoroughly investigate and find
the cause of the failures.
"Nevertheless, even despite these failures, Russian-South Korean
aerospace cooperation has a positive balance.
"In the first place, I'd like to reiterate the most important thing:
thanks to the implementation of this project, South Korea has already
amassed a tremendous experience in the operation of rocket systems. These
are complex technical units, and their development would give credit to
any state. South Korea has built a modern cosmodrome, which meets all
international standards. In addition, thanks to the implementation of the
project to create the launch system, South Korea has actually created its
own aerospace industry and obtained the experience in operating rocket
systems," the Khrunichev centre director said.
Cooperation with South Korea in the field of aerospace helped Russia
promote its aerospace services on the Asian-Pacific market.
"Our joint space exploration plans remain unchanged," Vladimir
Nesterov underlined.
-0-myz/kud