The Russian Space Agency (RKA) was formed after the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet space programme. The RKA uses the launch sites and technology that once belonged to the USSR.

In recent years, Russia has collaborated on missions with NASA, including sending cosmonauts to work aboard the International Space Station. Russia also launches cargo ships into orbit, which re-supply the crews on the space station.

In September 2004, Russia launched a new generation of spy satellites designed to track military activities in sea and possibly on land through electronic signal interception, also known as ELINT.

Russia also collaborates with the European Space Agency (ESA) and has launched probes to study Mars and Venus. In November 2005, the ESA spacecraft Venus Express launched aboard a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russia and Europe also plan to build a spaceplane called the Clipper, which they hope will replace the ageing Soyuz capsules which have been used since the 1960s. The project has not been given final approval, but the first test flights could begin as early as 2011.

Russia also gives space tourists a ride to the International Space Station (ISS), if they can pay the multi-million dollar fee. Gregory Olsen, the third tourist to travel aboard a Russian rocket to the ISS, is reported to have paid about $21 million for trip.

The Russian space programme is based in Star City outside Moscow, where cosmonauts and European astronauts are trained for missions into space. They train for space-walking in an enormous hydro laboratory and two giant centrifuges imitate the g-force experienced during lift-offs.