Posted on 12/07/2005 10:55:01 AM PST by jb6
With NASA's beleaguered shuttle still grounded over safety concerns -- and given the unanswered questions about its replacement, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which won't be ready to fly until 2012 -- the European Space Agency (ESA) is mulling an option to buy its own ride to space.
This month ESA plans to request $60 million from its member states to help Russia prepare its new, reusable spaceship, the Clipper, for a crewless test flight by 2011 and a manned flight by 2012.
The six-person Clipper is designed to replace Russia's three-person Soyuz capsule, which has been in operation since the 1960s and is currently the only reliable transport to the international space station.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I thought the ESA decided against this course. Hope I'm wrong - the more independent competing designs and factions in space, the more likely everyone is to take it seriously.
I know what you mean. NASA has been such a disaster and disappointment since the space race disappeared. Competition is the best thing.
The ESA decided against it that must be old news you posted. This is news from this weeks ESA meeting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4507122.stm
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