Glavkosmos

Glavkosmos is a Russian joint-stock company, a subsidiary of the state corporation Roscosmos, that manages the commercialisation and international export of Russian space launch and satellite services. It was established on 23 May 1985 — originally to coordinate Soviet space cooperation with foreign governments and to manage technology-transfer agreements, including a 1991 agreement to transfer KVD-1 cryogenic rocket engine production technology to the Indian Space Research Organisation, which led the United States to place sanctions on Glavkosmos in 1992.

The company is headquartered in Moscow and is led by CEO Ilya Sergeyevich Tarasenko, who has held the role since 2023, following predecessors Dmitry Loskutov (2018-2023) and Denis Lyskov (2016-2018).

Today Glavkosmos markets and coordinates a broad range of Russian space capabilities internationally: dedicated and rideshare commercial satellite launches (primarily on Soyuz-2.1 vehicles from Russian spaceports), short-duration commercial spaceflights to the International Space Station, and Earth observation imagery and data services. The company states it has more than 40 years of space-industry experience, has concluded more than 140 international contracts, and has executed over 300 successful launches carrying secondary/rideshare payloads; in November 2024 it coordinated a rideshare mission deploying 51 Russian spacecraft in a single launch, a national record.

Glavkosmos's most significant operating subsidiary for commercial launch sales is GK Launch Services, a joint venture established in May 2017 with International Space Company Kosmotras in which Glavkosmos holds a 75% stake. Glavkosmos has also managed Russia's participation in the "Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre" programme with Arianespace. As a wholly state-linked entity, Glavkosmos's international commercial business has been shaped by the broader pattern of sanctions affecting the Russian space sector, though specific current sanctions on the company were not detailed in the sources reviewed beyond the historical 1992 U.S. sanction noted above.