Everyone thought I was joking when I suggested creating a cosmodrome Putin

As Vladimir Putin was discussing the space industry with young scientists in Korolyov, an industrial city in Moscow Region, he spoke about how the Vostochny Cosmodrome was created. ‘It was in the early 2000s, and the country didn’t have money, that I said that Russia must have its own civilian-used spaceport. Everybody thought I was joking, but soon we started planning and designing.’