Founded: April 12, 1996
Parent: Roscosmos
Head Office: Samara, Russia
General Director: Kirilin Aleksandr
Revenue: $555 million (2014)
Employees (2016): 20,000+
The Progress Rocket Space Centre is the primary manufacturer of rockets and satellites for Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. The aerospace manufacturer was founded in April 1996 with the integration of the Central Specialized Design Bureau and the Samara Progress plant. As of 2017, the manufacturer has launched over 1,800 launch vehicles and deployed almost 1,000 satellites built in-house.
The Progress Rocket Space Centre operates from the city of Samara west of Moscow near the border with Kazakhstan. The facilities within the compound at Samara include the design bureau, the main rocket development factory referred to as Progress, and KB Foton, an affiliate design bureau. The facility is responsible for building the Soyuz launch vehicles and the Fonton, Yantar and Resurs DK satellites.
In 2009, the Progress Rocket Space Centre began work on a new launch vehicle, the Rus-M. It was meant to be a next-generation crew transporter that would enable Russia to continue to dominate the market. However, in October 2011 development on the new rocket was halted with Roscosmos officials opting to continue to use the Soyuz vehicles.
