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On November 11, the head of the Indian Space Research Organisation, Xiven Samarkand, arrived in Moscow with his country's foreign affairs team.
The head of Russia's space agency (RKA), Yuri Borisov, personally welcomed them at the airport, with a smile that filled his deeply lined face.
After the Union TMA-17M incident, Yuri managed to secure subsequent Moon cooperation by relying on some tough negotiation tactics in China, thus retaining his position as head of the agency.
Present-day Russia was in even a slightly better condition than the original timeline, not only starting its economic recovery in 2014 but also benefiting from the space race of the other two powerhouses.
To most people, Russia—having inherited the Soviet Union's space legacy—maintained advanced aerospace technology but lacked the funding to compete, so it was excluded from the race.
