Well, it had to come I guess. Easily the best and most powerful launcher for the job. Perhaps they can now forget all that nonsense about having the 'Parom' tug meet the Kliper and deliver it to the ISS - not that the whole idea of the Parom tug isn't a good idea in its own right. With the Zenit already in service and having Russian engines any way, (are the second stage engines Russian too?) it seemed a bit like sour grapes to dismiss it. Lets hope the Russians and Ukranians patch up their differences and leave them down here on Earth. That of course only holds if the story's true
mr.columbus - 2/2/2006 10:54 PM"A lighter version is going to weight no more than seven tons, which will make the new spacecraft compatible with Soyuz launch vehicles. Meanwhile, its heat resistance capability, unlike conventional winged space vehicles, will be based on an alloy coating, rather than tiling. "http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060201-122527-2938rI give up, until Roskosmos makes an announcement after the winning proposal for Kliper has been determined, I will not speculate any longer. 7tons? How does someone cut off 1.8 tons from the lightest variant of the Kliper proposal and still have it seat 6 crewmembers for a couple of days?