But Anatoly Perminov conceded that Russian spacecraft still depend on imported electronics, speaking to lawmakers a day after the nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. “We have to acknowledge that imported components account for 65-70 percent of electronics in the spacecraft launched last year and those set to be launched this year,” Perminov told the upper house of Russia’s Parliament in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed Tuesday that space will remain a key government priority, but skeptics said the nation has done virtually nothing to develop a successor to the 43-year-old Soyuz spaceship. Russia has used the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, whose designs date back to the 1960s, to send an increasing number of crew and cargo to the International Space Station.

They will become the sole link to the space outpost after the US space shuttle Atlantis closes out the US program this summer. Some cosmonauts warned, however, that while Russia stands to reap short-term benefits from its monopoly in ferrying crews and supplies to the space station, it could quickly fall behind America after the US builds a new-generation Orion spaceship.