Moscow ? President Vladimir Putin ordered his government Friday to speed up construction of a new cosmodrome and development of a booster rocket in a bid to revive the nation’s space glory.

Russia’s space agency chief, meanwhile, said the country may stop selling seats on its spacecraft to “tourists” starting in 2010 because of the planned expansion of the international space station’s crew from the current three to six or even nine in 2010.

The development came a day before the 47th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s becoming the first man in space. The Soviets also launched the first satellite – Sputnik – and the first woman in space, and carried out the first spacewalk.