There is no way the rest of the world can ignore Russia and their abilities to build, man and maintain a space station. They are the lords of the long stay in space. Cosmonauts have logged years as continous occupants in orbit starting with the Mir space station to their invaluable experience on the ISS.
So, when they say that they plan a hotel in orbit, lunar sightseeing flights and luxury rides into the cosmos I don't doubt that they can and probably will do it.
orbital hotels could look something like this
click image
"Space tourism is a real and fast-growing business," said Sergei Kostenko, head of Russian firm Orbital Technologies, said at the MAKS air show. "Whoever builds the first new spaceship now will reap big dividends."
Although Russia currently holds a monopoly on rides to space aboard its Soviet-designed Soyuz, it starts at a disadvantage.
Foreign experts say they doubt Russian firms can achieve their ambitious goals because they lack funding and even Russian officials said it would be hard to rival U.S. private sector firms now competing for contracts with NASA.
Funding for the U.S. space program is much higher and NASA is expected to forge ahead with building a new generation of craft capable of traveling into deep space, with flights into low Earth orbit outsourced to private firms.
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