Russia's Space Program Is 'Rotting From Within'

The Soyuz spacecraft blasts off to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 9.  

Ars Technica: A domestic newspaper warns of the Russian space program’s “rapid collapse” 

"The space program is rotting from within." 

A long and strikingly critical article that reviews the state of the Russian space program was published in the state-aligned newspaper MK this week. 

None of the findings in the 2,800-word article were particularly surprising. Western observers who track the Russian space industry realize the program is deeply troubled, and to a great extent running on the fumes of its past and very real glory. What is notable, however, is that a major Russian media outlet has published such a revelatory article for a domestic audience. 

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WNU Editor: In a nutshell. This is the problem .... .

.... The overall portrait Popov paints of Roscosmos is that of a wasteful, increasingly decrepit enterprise where almost no money is being invested into the present or future. Instead, the focus seems to be providing high-paying jobs for a handful of technocrats, whose salaries are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Meanwhile, the average monthly wages for technical specialists who build the country's rockets and spacecraft range from $500 to $1,000 a month.

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