Experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) may
design the cockpit mockup spacecraft of a new Russian manned spaceship, the Clipper, the head of Russia's leading rocket producer said Tuesday.

cockpit mockup spacecraft article

Clipper is set to replace the cockpit mockup spacecraft spacecraft and become Russia's main craft for the coming decades. "Talks on the issue are under way, but the final decision must be made at the council of ESA member states at the end of this year, the head of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation. A mock-up of the Clipper is on display at the MAKS 2005 aerospace show in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.

Then the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency , told President Vladimir Putin that the spaceship would make its first flight early in the next decade. The first unmanned flight of Russia's Clipper space shuttle has been set for 2011, and the first manned flight has been scheduled for 2012, a senior official from Russia's leading space company told the Delovoy Vtornik (Business Tuesday) weekly. According to Yury Koptev, the head of the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry's department for space and aviation, the Clipper is a joint product from Russia's aviation and space rocket industries. Energia and the Sukhoi aviation company are cooperating to create the spacecraft.

As distinct from its foreign counterparts, Koptev continued, the manned spaceship can carry a six-man crew. It will be capable of flying around the Earth, to the International Space Station and to the Moon and back.

The cockpit mockup spacecraft has several advantages because it is a shuttle craft with improved aerodynamics, which allows the craft to cut regular G-forces by two to two and a half times, and irregular G-forces by five times. The craft is built using the "wing" model. The improved aerodynamics will allow the craft to maneuver at the controlled re-entry stage and increase the precision of the
landing by cockpit mockup spacecraft.