Russia to abandon rocket booster work

MOSCOW, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Russia's space agency Roscosmos says it has decided to abandon the development of its Rus-M booster rocket because of inadequate funding.

"We do not need a new rocket, we will use those that we have," Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said Friday.

While more than 37 percent of the Roscosmos budget was allocated to develop a launch vehicle by 2015, Popovkin said, the funding is insufficient "so the launch of a new booster in 2015 is not in question."

Popovkin made the remarks in a question-and-answer governmental session in the lower house of Russia's Parliament, ITAR-Tass reported.