Will be a kind of second generation for the space shuttles
Moscow (– (AP) The company plans to lease time on the Russian space station Mir and build a new manned spacecraft, which will take paying passengers to the coffee route, an official representative of the company said on Wednesday.
The development of the new space vehicle will cost about 100 million dollars and will last about 18 months to two years, announced the official representative of the company, who asked to remain anonymous. The new spacecraft will be able to dock at the International Space Station.
The plans of Mircorp, which is based in the Netherlands, were unclear after the Russian government announced in November its intention to stop operating the aging "Mir", whose maintenance in orbit had become too expensive and dangerous. Mircorp has lobbied for the space station to remain in orbit for commercial purposes, including paid flights by "space tourists". Mircorp is partially owned by "Energy", the Russian company that built "Mir".
At a Mircorp board meeting in Moscow last week, it was decided to reauthorize the company to work with additional Russian space equipment manufacturers, according to a statement posted on the company's website on Tuesday. According to the announcement, in addition to the work on the new space vehicle, the company will market existing Russian space technology such as cargo spacecraft, and will test commercial projects on the new International Space Station.
According to the new arrangement Mircorp expects the company to have access to a future Russian module on the space station. The station, currently manned by two Russian cosmonauts and an American commander, Bill Shepherd, is a huge project in which 16 countries participate.
Officials at the US space agency were previously very skeptical of Mircorp's plans. The company's first paying customer, a businessman from California named Dennis Tito, was supposed to take off in Mir's direction early next year. After the decision to abandon "Mir", Mircorp claimed that they might ask permission from the Russian government to fly Tito to the International Space Station. MiCorp even planned to fly the winner of the TV program of the network - NBC "Target: Mir". The company announced that it would try to honor the existing agreements, possibly with the use of a new space vehicle. "Where possible, we will implement the plans for all existing customers."
Mircorp announced that it will work to raise $6 billion in new investment within six weeks to kick-start the new plans.
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