KAZAKHSTAN can’t claim to dominate many world industries, but it does currently have a monopoly on access to the space station. With the US shuttle grounded, all trips to the ISS begin at the Baikonur cosmodrome. No surprise, then, that the country is calling for a bigger role in running the space centre that sprawls across its steppes.
Since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Russia has been renting the cosmodrome. This year, both countries agreed to extend this arrangement until 2050. But with what ground rules? “We can’t be satisfied with the current rental situation,” Kazakhstan’s foreign minister,…
