Russia's space industry comprises more than 100 companies and employs 250,000 people. Most of the companies are descendants of Soviet design bureau and state production companies. The industry entered a deep crisis following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with its fullest effect occurring in the last years of the 1990s. Funding of the space program declined by 80% and the industry lost a large part of its work force before recovery began in the early 2000s. Many companies survived by creating joint-ventures with foreign firms and marketing their products abroad.
In the mid-2000s, as part of the general improvement in the economy, funding of the country's space program was substantially increased and a new ambitious federal space plan was introduced, resulting in a great boost to the industry. Its largest company is RKK Energiya, the main crewed space flight contractor. Leading launch vehicle producers are Khrunichev and TsSKB-Progress. The largest satellite developer is ISS Reshetnev, while NPO Lavochkin is the main developer of interplanetary probes.
