Russian Space Agency and US Companies to Jointly Build Spacecraft

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/17/spaceagreement.shtml

Space Adventures, a company that has sent three space tourists into orbit,
Russian Space Agency Roskosmos and the venture capital firm Prodea have
signed an agreement to develop rocket ships for suborbital flights, the
Associated Press reported. They will be designed and built by the Russian
aerospace firm Myasishchev Design Bureau.

"We want to provide the opportunity for people to experience space in as
many ways as possible," Space Adventures chief executive Eric Anderson said.

Both sides declined to disclose the amount of investment, but Prodea
co-founder Hamid Ansari said the firm was fully committed to funding the
project.

Arlington, Va.-based Space Adventures is best known for sending three
tourists to the orbiting international space station for a reported $20
million a person.

Space Adventures currently has about $3 million in escrow from nearly 200
potential passengers who have paid deposits to fly aboard a yet-to-be-built
suborbital vehicle.

Space Adventures' partnership with Texas-based Prodea marks the first time
the space tour operator has played a direct role in the development of
suborbital spaceships, Anderson said. Suborbital ships go up and come
immediately back down.

The vehicle being built by Myasishchev can hold up to five people. The
design of the vehicle known as Explorer is set and construction will begin
soon. Once the vehicles are built, Space Adventures and Prodea plan to sell
the vehicles to spaceports around the world, Anderson said.


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