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Russia Says Next-Gen Spacecraft Design Ready

Posted by samzenpus on from the we-can-make-it-better dept.

The next generation of Russian spacecraft will be ready for test flights by 2017, according to Energia President Vitaly Lopota. 'We have completed the technical design project taking into account the fact that the new spaceship is to fly to the Moon, among other places,' he said. Federal Space Agency Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin says the new ship would be built by 2018 and would be able to conduct missions to the International Space Station and the Moon.

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. I've lost count by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've lost count of how many "next generation" the Russians have announced as being "practically ready" or terms amounting to the same thing.

    Not to mention the article is silent on whether this is actually a new design or a new iteration of the Soyuz. If it's the former, then we're likely looking at yet more Russian vaporware. The latter actually might come to pass.

    1. Re:I've lost count by tp1024 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is one difference ever since the price of oil approached and then surpassed (for some time) $100 per barrel after 2005 or so: those claims are backed up with money for the first time since the end of the the Soviet Union.

  2. Paper spacecraft by benjfowler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Paper (or Powerpoint) spacecraft and launch systems are a dime a dozen.

    Even when they DO tool up their factories and begin production, they need to get on top of their industries' QA issues as well. I would think that the somewhat less-than-stellar track record of their newer systems (e.g. Briz-M), suggests that they have a lot of work to do.