Turkmenistan Creates National Space Agency

The space agency is expected to be part of an infrastructure to help build and track satellites.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has signed a decree establishing a new national space agency for the mostly desert Central Asian country of some five million people.

The decree noted the need for an infrastructure to help build and track satellites, making no mention of manned space flights.

Berdymukhammedov has not yet named anyone to head the space agency.

compiled from agency reports