From Sputnik to Sanctions: Inside Russia’s Space & Satellite Industry 2025
Key Facts History of Russia’s Space Industry: From Soviet Pioneers to Post-Soviet Turbulence Russia’s space enterprise is anchored in the Soviet Union’s legendary space program, which set many historic milestones. The USSR built a formidable space infrastructure – at its peak in 1989, space spending was 1.5% of Soviet GDP en.wikipedia.org – achieving the first satellite (Sputnik), first human in orbit (Yuri Gagarin), first spacewalk, and launching robust programs like Soyuz crewed spacecraft and Salyut/Mir space stations. Soviet design bureaus (Energia, Chelomei’s OKB, Lavochkin, etc.) and manufacturing plants sprang up across the union, forming the backbone of today’s industry. The
