Russia Plans Replacement for Soyuz Rocket

Russia's struggling space agency has unveiled a new multi-billion-pound plan that will see the development of a replacement for the ageing Soyuz rocket by 2020.

The £40-billion plan published over the weekend on the website of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) also envisions the launch of new unmanned missions to the Moon and beyond.

But one of the biggest priorities is finding a replacement for the Soyuz – the backbone of Russian space travel since its development by pioneering Soviet scientists in the 1960s.