International   

Russia plans to build reusable space shuttle

Vladimir Radyuhin

Clipper will replace the Soyuz vehicle designed 40 years ago

MOSCOW: As the U.S. space shuttle programme ran into more delays Russia said it was embarking on the construction of its own space shuttle.

He head of Russia's space agency Roskosmos Anatoly Perminov said his agency will begin building a reusable space travel capsule this year.

The decision to launch the shuttle construction was taken at a Government meeting on Thursday, hours after NASA announced another delay for the resumption of shuttle flights suspended after the 2003 Columbia disaster.

The new Russian shuttle called Clipper will replace the Soyuz spacecraft designed more than 40 years ago as Russia's main vehicle for hauling cosmonauts to space and back to Earth.

The Roskosmos chief said Clipper will take six crewmen onboard against three in the Soyuz capsule. It will be substantially smaller and cheaper than both the U.S. shuttle and the first Soviet shuttle, Buran, which made a single space flight in the 1980s before the programme was closed.

Clipper will sit atop a rocket booster rather than be strapped to its side as Buran. It will glide back to Earth as an aircraft and will be able to use regular airfields.

Mr. Perminov said Russia will build the new reusable spacecraft jointly with other countries. Russian space corporation Energiya has already build a full-scale mockup model of Clipper.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Blair for "battle'' to win Muslim hearts
Focus on Pakistan school
Jaafari on visit to Iran
Three U.K. soldiers killed in Iraq
China starts strategic talks with major powers
Russia plans to build reusable space shuttle
Rove testifies columnist named the CIA agent
Taliban-like law passed
Cocaine found in E.U. Parliament
Four killed in Turkey blast
On the U.N. list

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu