Kliper

Mission Profile

Kliper (Clipper) was a proposed Russian partially reusable crewed lifting-body spaceplane concept studied by RSC Energia from approximately 2000 to 2006 as a successor to the Soyuz spacecraft. The 6-person vehicle would have launched on a Zenit-2 or Onega rocket, re-entering as an unpowered glider for runway landing, providing a significantly higher crew capacity and comfort level than Soyuz. ESA considered co-investing in Kliper as Europe's crewed spacecraft, but the project was cancelled in 2006 after Russian federal funding was not forthcoming and no alternative European financial support materialized. Kliper's cancellation left Russia continuing with the Soyuz until development of the Orel spacecraft began in the 2010s.