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Russian, European Space Agencies Agree to Build Brand-New Spaceship

Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 15:00 CDT

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to carry out joint work to build a spaceship for flights to the earth orbit and expeditions to the Moon, Interfax-AVN has been told by Roskosmos's press secretary Aleksandr Vorobyev.

"The sides agreed to continue the detailed study of the project for the future manned transport system. It has been agreed that a Russian launch vehicle with the loading capacity of about 18 t - 20 t will be used. The first launches are scheduled to be carried out from the Vostochnyy cosmodrome. Test flights will begin in 2015 and the first manned flight will take place in 2018," Vorobyev said.

When signing the agreement, the sides took into account the fact that Roskosmos and ESA "had a number of technologies and unique experience in developing various space systems", he said.

"This will allow us to build a modern high-technology spaceship that will be able to perform manned flights at the earth and lunar orbits, with the crew of up to six people," Vorobyev said. [Passage omitted]

"As a result of comparative analysis and taking into account Russia's plans to build the Vostochnyy cosmodrome, the sides have come to the conclusion that the new space transport vehicle should be based on the spaceship with the cone-type capsule," Vorobyev said.

According to him, it is envisaged that Russia will be responsible for the development and construction of the transport system's capsule, while the European side will be in charge of the service module and engine section of the new spaceship. The overall integration of the new spaceship's development project will be carried out by the Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation. [Passage omitted]

"As early as in October 2008 it is planned to complete the preparation of the documents that determine technical and programme details of the spaceship's concept. This will enable the sides to make the final decision on launching the project. An interim option of the system's concept will be prepared in June. It is planned to consider it at the joint meeting of the ESA and Roskosmos representatives," Vorobyev said.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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