Shoogerbrugge,<br /><br />Perhaps this is just the dreaming of aerospace engineers in the employ of Energia, but I think that it is more than that. Russia has the know-how, and the proven launch vehicles, as well as the Soyuz capsule, to do these projects within the time-line that is specified. Yes, the Kliper is still a paper vehicle, but it does not involve any radical new technologies. And a certain phrase jumped out at me; "this plan does not require the construction of a jumbo rocket." Who would they be referring to?<br /><br />Could it be that this proposal is aimed at the United States, as a way to accomplish the stated goal of returning people to the Moon, without an expensive development program? It would certainly cut several years off of the American time-line, while developing a far more robust infrastructure than the one proposed by the U. S., as well as making good use of the International Space Station, which the U. S. seems intent on abandoning to its partners.<br /><br />Russia seems to be saying, through Energia, "Hey, we have the hardware, and the know-how, to do what you want to do, but we don't have the money. You have the money, but lack the hardware, which will be expensive to build and test, as well as being time consuming. We could truly work together, and achieve what we both want much faster than either of us could working alone." There was very little mention of what types of equipment would be landed on the Moon, leaving lots of latitude for the U. S. to provide the hardware for lunar surface operations, which will require a great deal of research and development, at great cost. The U. S. could spend so much money building the infrastructure to get to the Moon that there would be nothing left for doing anything when we get there. Working with the Russians, America could concentrate its spending on the stuff that no one has done before, building habitat and work spaces on the Moon, instead of wasting huge sums of money recreating what <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>