The wife of the President of Russia, Naina Yeltsina, played an important role in the creation of the Russian Space Agency 30 years ago, in February 1992. This was told by the president of the Moscow Space Club, test cosmonaut Sergei Zhukov, who participated in the development of the decree on the creation of the agency.

“The meeting that determined the fate of the industry for many years to come was held by the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin February 18. The government considered a package of documents based on our developments. The President knew about this, because our colleague, deputy of the Moscow Regional Council Yuri Loktionov, through the President's wife Naina Iosifovna, handed over our package to Boris Nikolayevich. The second time the President's wife played a similar role a year and a half later, when she handed Yeltsin a bill on space activities. This was, if I am not mistaken, the last law of the Khasbulatov Supreme Council, which Yeltsin signed, ”said Zhukov.

According to the expert, already in 1992, contracts worth $20 million were received from foreign economic activity, generated by the created agency.

“The Russian space agency, we must pay tribute to its head, Yuri Nikolayevich Koptev, quickly gathered the entire industry under it, received funding, status, and the industry was saved at that moment,” Zhukov noted.

The Russian Space Agency (RSA) was established by decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin on February 25, 1992. Seven years later, the RSA was transformed into the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos), which in 2004 was renamed the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), now the state corporation Roscosmos.

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