Representatives of the European side stated that they want to have their own manned spacecraft. Roscosmos has already responded to this: According to Dmitry Rogozin, the simplest solution would be to organize opportunities for launching Soyuz-MS at the Kourou cosmodrome.
Dozens of astronauts supported the idea of creating a European spacecraft. This is stated in the manifesto presented at the Toulouse summit. The document calls on European officials to start financing a new direction.
Now Europe has seven active astronauts and many who have flown before. American ships and Russian "Unions" were used for flights.
Initially, manned cosmonautics was not included in the tasks of the European Space Agency (ESA) at all: the organization was considered as a project for unpiloted space exploration. Therefore, the first European cosmonaut not from the USSR was not an ESA participant, but Vladimir Remek from Czechoslovakia. In 1978, he flew on the Soviet Soyuz. Over time, the situation began to change.
As they say in the EU now, a new impetus for the development of the space industry was the successful launch of the James Webb telescope using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Recall that the launch was carried out on December 25 from the Kourou cosmodrome.
Russia managed to comment on the European initiative. According to the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, the most reasonable solution would be to modernize the Kourou cosmodrome and launch Russian Soyuz rockets from there.
I believe that at the moment it is important for Russia and Europe to find new areas and directions for cooperation. One of such projects could be the retrofitting of the Soyuz launch complex in French Guiana to a manned level. https://t.co/TbWwUspbP6- ROGOZIN (@Rogozin) February 17, 2022
"This will save European taxpayers billions of euros and give European cosmonautics the opportunity to quickly join the club of space powers with all competencies in manned flights," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying. The ships can be launched, including to the new Chinese orbital station.
It should be noted that Russia is actively developing a new generation manned spacecraft, the Eagle, formerly known as the Federation. If the plans do not change, they want to launch its full-size layout in 2023. The first manned launch of the ISS spacecraft was scheduled for 2025.
De facto, we are talking about a whole family of new generation ships: in the future, on the basis of the Eagle, they will create its clothed version, which they want to use for lunar expeditions.
Recall that in the future, Russia intends to create a long-term lunar station together with China. In January, it became known that the parties had reached a consensus on its construction. The relevant agreement can be signed this year. They want to put the facility into operation in the mid-2030s.
