Europe lands on the moon.
The competition warms up. They may be angling for NASA contracts, but they could also do some missions on their own. One thing needed, in the spirit of international participation, as was done to a degree for the ISS, is standardized hardware specs where modules are expected to join.
Competition is good....
“Europe is eying Russia’s proposed crew-carrying Clipper spaceship, not only for use in International Space Station operations, but also to carve out their role in future Moon, Mars and beyond exploration.”
This “Russian” Clipper sure looks like one of the lifting bodies from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. I believe they flew these planes during the 1960’s through the mid 1970’s.
I find it most interesting that the EU nations want to take it to the Moon. I would think a lifting body would work best with an atmosphere. I keep picturing the Europeans trying to use the lunar atmosphere to slow down their Russian lifting body to a safe speed for deployment of their parachutes.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com