The Russian Space Agency was formed on the 25th of February 1992, by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev became the agency's first director after previously working with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin.
A major reorganization of the Russian space industry was undertaken following a series of reliability problems and the failure of a July 2013 Proton M launch. The United Rocket and Space Corporation was formed as a joint-stock corporation by the government in August 2013 to consolidate the Russian space sector.
Roscosmos announced that it would terminate its involvement in the ISS with 12 months' notice on the 2nd of May 2022 following sanctions over the Ukraine war. This decision followed announcements from March 2022 that cooperation with Europe was now impossible due to sanctions imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022.
As of 2009, six space tourists have contracted with Roscosmos and have flown into space for an estimated fee of at least $20 million USD each way. Roscosmos also sells NASA spots on Soyuz spacecraft for approximately $21 million per person each way under a contract running until 2011.
The Soyuz rocket is capable of launching about 7.5 tons into low Earth orbit while the Proton rocket has a lift capacity of over 20 tons to LEO. Modifications such as the Soyuz-2.1a and Soyuz-2.1b enhance the launch capacity to 8.5 tons to LEO.