Russia, France to join on new rocket

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says his country and France will combine their efforts to build cutting-edge reusable space rockets. "Russian and French engineers are already working in this direction under Project Ural," Putin said after a meeting of the Russian-French cooperation commission. The Russian Federal Space Agency Roskosmos and its French counterpart, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, are expected to create a timeline for cooperation, RIA Novosti reported Friday. The 15-year Ural program, intended to replace the Russian Soyuz and French Ariane carriers some time for 2020 to 2030, was adopted in 2005.