Cosmopolis XXI
{{Short description|Russian concept launch vehicle}}
{{redirect|Explorer (space plane)|the Johnson/KSC NASA full sized mock-up|Space Shuttle Explorer|the fictional orbiter Explorer in the 2013 film|Gravity (2013 film)|the fictional orbiter Independence in the 1998 film|Armageddon (1998 film)}}
{{mi|
{{Update|date=November 2018}}
{{more footnotes|date=April 2024}}
}}
Cosmopolis XXI was a late 2000s Russian concept launch vehicle billed as a space tourism vehicle, similar to Mojave Aerospace's Tier One program. Designed and built by the Myasishchev Design Bureau, it would use the M-55X launch aircraft (derived from Myasishchev M-55), and the proposed C-21 spaceplane or its successor the Explorer. It would be a TSTSO (Two-Stage to SubOrbit) launch platform.
The Explorer spaceplane is a suborbital tourist spaceplane based on the C-21 design. The plane was being developed by Space Adventures with the Russian Federal Space Agency and was intended to carry 3 passengers. It is to be air-launched by carrier aircraft from a Space Adventures spaceport. Space Adventures abandoned the Explorer project in 2010 because "it got too expensive."[http://www.newspacejournal.com/2010/05/28/space-adventures-returns-to-suborbital-spaceflight/ Space Adventures returns to suborbital spaceflight], NewSpace Journal, 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2010-05-28. It is unclear if Russia continues its development.
References
- [http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060222_techwed_spaceadventures.html Suborbital Rocketship Fleet to Carry Tourists Spaceward in Style]. Space.com, 2006-02-22.
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090627043814/http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=19040 Space Tourism Pioneers, Space Adventures and the Ansari X Prize Title Sponsors, to Provide First Suborbital Spaceflight Tourism Vehicles] (SpaceAdventures)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20151018222825/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11393569/ New group to develop passenger spaceship] (MSNBC). Retrieved 2024-04-17.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041010131609/http://spaceadventures.com/media/info/vehicles/c21 C-21 Spacecraft] at Space Adventures
{{Myasishchev}}
{{Spaceplanes}}
Category:Human spaceflight programs
{{space-stub}}