Cosmopolis XXI was a late 2000s Russian concept launch vehicle billed as a space tourism vehicle, similar to Mojave Aerospace's Scaled Composites Tier One, Tier One program. Designed and built by the Myasishchev, 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."
[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)
* [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11393569 New group to develop passenger spaceship] (MSNBC)
''C-21 Spacecraft''at Space Adventures
Myasishchev aircraft
Human spaceflight programs
Space Adventures
Space tourism
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