Russian space corp. in talks with Boeing, Lockheed Martin

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's Energia space corporation is holding talks with U.S. aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin over manufacture of docking sites and thermal protection equipment for space capsules for the U.S. firms, Izvestia daily newspaper said on Tuesday, July 3 citing Energia head Vitaly Lopota.

"We are in talks with Boeing and Lockheed to make unified interfaces for our products. They are ready to discuss various opportunities, even to allow us to make component parts," Lopota told the paper, according to RIA Novosti.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin declined to comment on the information to the paper.

The component parts will be made for Boeing's CST-100 seven-seater spacecraft, designed for short-distance flights to the International Space Station from 2015, and for the $8 billion Orion long-distance spaceship, designed by Lockheed Martin.

"[Russian] achievements in docking sites and [thermal protection equipment] production are quite competitive, but I am not sure that the Americans will accept our offer because they not only have the task of building a spaceship but also of gaining competence in this matter," Dmitry Payson, director of the space and telecommunication technology department in Russia's Skolkovo hi-tech hub, told Izvestia.