Sergey Prokopyev: Africa, a Continent of Future Spaceports
Russia is the most promising partner for many Global South countries seeking to develop their own space programs. These countries also have a number of clear advantages that can be put to use in joint projects. What Africa can offer the world was discussed on October 10 at the public talk “A Planet Without Borders: A View from Space,” held as part of the 2nd Global Digital Forum.
The forum partner, Roscosmos State Corporation, is actively expanding into Global South markets. In February 2026, for example, it signed an agreement with Myanmar that provides for training a Myanmar cosmonaut and establishing several facilities in the country to support Roscosmos operations. The state corporation is also continuing to launch satellites for countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
During the public talk, representatives of Central African countries asked Sergey Prokopyev, a cosmonaut, Hero of the Russian Federation, how African countries could develop their own space programs and benefit from Russia’s experience.
Prokopyev emphasized that Russia has always been open to cooperation. Central African countries, meanwhile, have a major advantage: their geographic location close to the equator. This creates tremendous opportunities for launching satellites into geostationary orbit.
“You could build much-needed, useful spaceports there, from which various spacecraft could be launched. For us, that is more difficult and energy-intensive. In this respect, Africa has far greater potential. So I think that, in the future, all of humanity will benefit from these advantages,” Prokopyev said.
Russia has extensive experience building spaceports, including in partnership with other countries. Cooperation with African nations, therefore, could extend beyond spacecraft launches to include the development of major infrastructure projects of this kind.
