Europe could get manned spaceship

[Notebook]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7398517.stm

N.

 

[Belisarius]

Don't hold your breath - the project will most likely go the same way as Hermes (RIP)

 

[simonpro]

Interesting how the BBC suddenly starts a saturation of manned spaceflight stories just days before the astronaut selection, and just days after it published canonisation pieces on Britain's three likely candidates
Whoever said they weren't political


All of that said, I think this lpan has a lot more chance of succeeding than Hermes. ESA now has a semi-manned capability with the ATV and Columbus, and a fully manned launch vehicle is the next logical step.

It's an exciting time to be a European, chaps, it really is!

 

[Urwumpe]

I will be more convinced, once funding is secured. The ESA conferences are rarely a event of taking risks and chances. I would not be surprised if Italia would only be happy to support this project, if they can build support hardware, etc...

 

[ijuin]

It would definitely need a reentry capsule added on, but an ATV-derived three-module craft (similar in basic layout to Soyuz and Shengzhou) would be much cheaper to develop than building from scratch.