A design for Russian suborbital spacecraft for tourist flights may be presented in early 2018, Executive Director for Business Development and Commercialization Anton Zhiganov said in an interview with TASS.

"There is the Cosmocourse company in Russia that is developing a suborbital tourist spacecraft. The colleagues are currently at the design stage. I think that we will be able to see preliminary results at the beginning of the next year," Zhiganov said.

After approval of the design, Roscosmos entities may cooperate to produce a carrier rocket and suborbital spacecraft for touristic flights, he said.

He specified that Cosmocourse might become an analogue of the Virgin Galactic company that takes tourists to space onboard suborbital spacecraft.

"If all is successful, I hope they [Cosmocourse] will present their project, we will study it and support its development," Zhiganov noted.