RSC Energiya has unveiled a mockup of their proposed Kliper (or Clipper, in this article) partially-reusable spacecraft:

The Clipper spacecraft will replace the disposable Soyuz which is currently used to man the International Space Station.

Energia specialists said that if sufficient finances are allocated for the Clipper program, the spacecraft could be launched in five to seven years. They also said that the price of the Russian shuttle would be approximately ten times less than U.S. analogues.

Hmm...meaning Shuttle, or CEV?

The main difference of the Clipper from U.S. space shuttles and the Russian shuttle Buran is that it is made of two parts and only the piloted compartment is actually of multiple use. The hardware compartment will be disposable, just like present Russian spaceships. One Clipper spacecraft will be capable of 25 space missions.

Judging from some of the images floating around, it appears that the windward heatshield may be among the disposable items, as well.

Would it be pedantic to point out that there are more (and more significant) differences between the Kliper/Clipper and the Shuttle than those described?

The experts also pointed at another advantage of the new spacecraft — high precision landing will allow it to land on Russian airfields and not in Kazakhstan like Soyuz landing modules.

Note that this is in keeping with their new ability to fly uprated Soyuz launchers from Plesetsk.

Posted by T.L. James on December 1, 2004 06:44 PM