S7 Space (S7's daughter, who owns the floating launch site Sea Launch) can not agree with the Russian industry at the price of the Soyuz-5 carrier rocket. This was announced by the company's CEO Sergei Sopov.

"Soyuz-5" in the form in which it is represented, we do not need. In fact, this is a stout and heavier rocket "Zenith". Why make a new Zenit, so that in 15 years it is obsolete? "- Sopov said (quoted by TASS). According to him, for the company the fundamental point is the price, as the cost of starting from the Sea Launch should be lower than that of competitors, for example, the company SpaceX with the Falcon 9 missiles.

"Price is a characteristic of weight and specific gravity," he said.

"Here we can not find a common language with our industry," Sopov said. He noted that the missiles "Zenith", which were launched from the "Sea Launch", can operate for another six to seven years, but you need to think about replacing. "We know for sure that this should be a medium-range missile that will take out 16-17 tons [payload] to a low reference orbit," Sopov said.

"Sea Launch" will be withdrawn from conservation in May-June of this year, Sopov added. The Sea Launch project was created in 1995 by the efforts of Boeing, RSC Energia, Norwegian Kvaerner (now Aker Solutions), Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash. In 2009, the Sea Launch, which includes the Odyssey floating platform and the command ship, announced its bankruptcy. In the course of the restructuring, the largest part of the project was received by RSC Energia, and in 2016 S7 bought the Sea Launch for about $ 160 million.

Earlier, Sopov said that S7 Space planned to sign a memorandum with RSC Energia to order 85 missiles (50 plus an option for 35) Soyuz-5 for their launch from the Sea Launch. In February, S7 announced plans to launch 12 launches from the Sea Launch until 2022, for this purpose the company will buy 12 missiles of the Zenit series from Yuzhmash.

The head of Roskosmos, Igor Komarov, said in July 2017 that the "Sea Launch" would be modernized for launching the Soyuz-5 rocket from it. Its first launch is scheduled for 2022.