KOROLYOV (Moscow Region), (Sputnik) — Energia was planning to start the construction of next-generation Federatsia (Federation) spacecraft this year. The spacecraft is considered capable to perform missions in the Moon.
"Costs of the mission of reusable manned Ryvok spacecraft are by one third lower than the costs of the Federatsia spacecraft's mission," Makushenko said while presenting the project at the Human Space Exploration international conference at Korolyov, Russia.
According to the project, Ryvok should be stationed at the International Space Station (ISS). It would run between the ISS and the international lunar orbital platform to deliver cargos and cosmonauts who would arrive to the ISS with Soyuz spacecraft.
Earlier, Makushenko noted that Energia and US agency NASA were in talks to build a space station that could orbit the Moon by the end of the next decade.
