Monday, July 2, 2007

ESA Considers Building a Shuttle of their Own


The European Space Agency (ESA) has held meetings a few meetings, with more to come this month, discussing possible plans to build a possible 'Space Shuttle' of their own. The ESA does not want to be fully dependant on NASA's Orion shuttle in the future. They want to be able to have a way to reach space; to deliver experiments, cargo, and conduct research on their own. And if any of NASA's vehicles fails, then the ESA wants to have a backup of their own so they don't face any delays.

ESA's future space vehicle might be an advanced version of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, or it might be a completely new model and concept.

Russia's Soyuz might be enhanced or
a new concept might be undertaken

The ESA has given about $24 million dollars (U.S) for the study, which is lead by Russia, but if plans for the space vehicle are approved in the future; the agency will have to shell out hundreds of millions more.

Original Article: BBC

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