Kliper (Клипер, English: Clipper) was an early-2000s proposed partially-reusable (excluding orbital section and thermal protection shield) crewed spacecraft concept by RSC Energia. Due to a lack of funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (RSA), the project was indefinitely postponed in 2006. Designed primarily to replace the Soyuz spacecraft, Kliper was proposed in two versions: as a pure lifting body design and as spaceplane with small wings. In either case, the spacecraft would have been able to glide into the atmosphere at an angle that produces much less stress on the human occupants than the current Soyuz spacecraft. Kliper was intended to be designed to be able to carry up to six people and to perform ferry services between Earth and the International Space Station.
Development
Announcement of the program
In February 2004 Nikolay Moiseyev, the deputy director of Russian Federal Space Agency (also known as Roscosmos) told journalists that the Kliper project had been included in the Russian federal space program for 2005-2015. At that point he announced that if the program was implemented successfully, the first launch would take place in five years' time. Kliper had been developed since 2000 and reportedly relied heavily on research studies as well as proposals for a small Russian lifting body spacecraft from the 1990s. Externally its design was comparable to the cancelled European minishuttle Hermes or the NASA study X-38. It was planned to be the successor to the Soyuz spacecraft, which has been built as various versions since 1961.
Early search for support
In 2005 Kliper was displayed in several air shows around Europe and Asia, in order to recruit international partners to co-fund and co-develop the spacecraft. The Russian Space Agency especially looked to Europe as the European Space Agency (ESA) had become its major partner in space activities during the preceding years. In May 2005, rumours started in the press that Europe would join the Kliper project in a specially funded venture that would be part of the Aurora Programme. These rumours turned out to be correct when both Russian and European space officials announced their intent to cooperate on Kliper during the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget on June 10, 2005. Vladimir Taneev, the leading designer of the Kliper system, speculated on the contribution of Europe to the project in the following way:
The European companies will likely contribute avionics, materials, and cabin systems. Many different options are on the table, and in the near future we expect to form Russian-European working groups specialized in different subsystems and fields of design. A further element of this process was made public on October 12, 2005, when various press agencies revealed that JAXA, the Japanese space agency, had been officially approached by Russia to participate in the project. JAXA has made it clear that they are more likely to join the project if ESA does so first, which was in doubt after ESA members rejected a study for Europe's involvement in the Kliper project in December 2005. The addition of Japan would make Kliper a truly multinational project, potentially combining the rugged reliability of Russian launchers with Japanese computer technology. A greater pan-national consensus would have allowed for a lighter funding burden on each participant as well.
Estimated costs Announcements and speculations following the February 2004 press conference suggested a development budget of 10,000,000,000 ₽ (about US$400,000,000). In looking at costs for human space travel it was clear that the 10 billion rubles figure was a rather low estimate. In May 2005 The Guardian reported that costs were estimated to be roughly US$3,000,000,000 (for development and construction of Kliper until 2015) of which the bulk of US$1,800,000,000 was speculated to come from Europe. Different sources in 2005 have reported that the money needed for the program would be €1,500,000,000 (about US$1,800,000,000) and on December 12, 2005 an article stated it would be €1,000,000,000 (solely in relation to development costs). On July 14, 2005 the Russian government approved the national space program for 2006 to 2015 with a budget of 305,000,000,000 ₽ (about US$11,000,000,000). The whole budget for the 10-year period was to have been 425,000,000,000 ₽ (about US$15,000,000,000). The budget included the needed funding for the Kliper program. Thus in face of Europe's denial to fund a €50,000,000 feasibility study for the Kliper project at the European space summit in December 2005, Russian space officials have announced that Russia would fund Kliper even without any European contribution. The most recent article on Kliper stated that the project would have incurred 16,000,000,000 ₽ (about US$600,000,000) in development costs, 11,000,000,000 ₽ of which will be financed by the government and 5,000,000,000 ₽ by contractors.
First launch and target for regular flights In 2004 it was announced that it was likely that Kliper would make its first launch as early as 2010 or 2011, the same time the Space Shuttle was scheduled to be retired. It was reported by BBC News on September 27, 2005, that the first flight tests were planned for 2011, with the first crewed flights in 2012 and the Soyuz being phased out over time until 2014. An article on December 3, 2005 cited the president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Nikolai Sevastyanov that "the first regular lift-off is scheduled for 2012, while a complete transport system will be in place by 2015." After the termination of the Russian Space Agency's tender for a new spacecraft, Energia announced that this would push its Kliper proposal's first flight — if developed at all — back further. In the event, the development project did not continue.
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