Posted 9/21/2004 09:42:00 PM by Douglas

The Russian Space program was last seen on the corner with a cardboard sign that said "Will Launch for Food," the ISS is about to fall in on itself, and this is what the Russians are spending money on. A new shuttle??

The Russian Federal Space Agency (FSA) is working on the project to launch a new space shuttle called Kliper.

FSA deputy director Nikolai Moiseyev has told journalists that the Kliper project had been included in the federal space program for 2005-15. If the program is implemented successfully the first launch may take place in five years’ time, the official told the Itar-Tass news agency.

I guess the first question is pretty simple: Why? NASA is struggling to meet launch deadlines to get their (read: our) shuttle back into low-earth orbit, while opponents have asserted, and rightfully so, that we haven't received any significant science from LEO in 40 years.

So what the hell are the Rooskies doing to do with theirs, and were are they finding the rubles?

They must have some plans for it, or else they'd just dust off the plans for the Buran. The plans they stole from Rockwell back in the 70s.

The only Russian space shuttle project is known under the name Buran.

One Buran shuttle made an unmanned spaceflight in November 1988. It circled Earth twice, landed automatically and since then has more or less sat in storage at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Several other copies of the Russian shuttle were built as part of a test program and through the years have all become known by the name Buran. One of them is now used as an attraction in Moscow’s Gorky Park.

Hopefully they'll find a way to make this thing pay for itself. If not, Buran could use a replacement. As a rusting snackbar in Gorky Park.