Cosmopolis XXI was a late 2000s Russian concept

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

billed as a

space tourism Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

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 The Myasishchev M-55 (NATO reporting name: ''Mystic-B'') is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft developed by OKB Myasishchev in the Soviet Union, similar in mission to the Lockheed ER-2, but with a twin boom fuselage and tail surface desig ...

), and the proposed C-21

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes ten ...

or its successor the Explorer. It would be a TSTSO (Two-Stage to SubOrbit) launch platform. The Explorer

is a

suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...

tourist

based on the C-21 design. The plane was being developed by

Space Adventures Space Adventures, Inc. is an American space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. Its offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights (with the option to participate in a spacewalk), and other spacefl ...

with the

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

and was intended to carry 3 passengers. It is to be air-launched by carrier aircraft from a Space Adventures

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

. Space Adventures abandoned the Explorer project in 2010 because "it got too expensive."Space Adventures returns to suborbital spaceflight
''NewSpace Journal'', 2010-05-28, accessed 2010-05-28. It is unclear if Russia continues its development.

References

*Space.co

February 22, 2006

External links

(SpaceAdventures) * ttp://www.nbcnews.com/id/11393569 New group to develop passenger spaceship(MSNBC)
''C-21 Spacecraft''
at

Myasishchev aircraft Human spaceflight programs Space Adventures Space tourism {{space-stub