14 DAY TRIAL // Since NASA's space shuttle has been grounded for two and a half years the burden of sending astronauts to the International Space Station is on the old Russian Soyuz spaceships. A new type of reusable space craft is designed in Russia at it is expected to be ready in 2015.
The space craft, named Kliper, capable of carrying six people, will be able to double the current number of crewmembers on the ISS. The first unmanned test flight is set for 2012 and the first manned flight is scheduled for 2013.
According to the chief designer, Nikolai Sevastyanov, besides being reusable, the new shuttle has a number of advantages. For example, it will be equipped with an orbital transfer vehicle and a container with a capacity of 12 metric tons, compared with the Soyuz's two-ton capacity. This will cut transportation costs considerably, Sevastyanov said.
Insofar, since year 2000, Kliper has been shaped and re-shaped several times.
The project was in trouble in April 2005 due to lack of funding, but in June 2005 the head of manned space program of the European Space Agency, who conducted talks with Russian space officials in Moscow, said that his agency would support the Kliper project. Furthermore, at the end of 2005, the Russian government did include the Kliper project into the decade-long Federal Space program.
The Kliper system would be adapted for launches from Russian facilities, as well as from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana.