At the recent Scientific and Technical Board meeting held at Moscow Aviation Institute, President and General Designer of Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, N.N. Sevastiyanov delivered a report on the proposed concept of human flight program development.
The concept involved further build-up of the activities to develop near-earth space travel, based upon: further deployment and operation of the International Space Station; staged development of the Clipper reusable space transportation system; as well as recommencement of the activities on implementing manned space flights under Lunar and Martian programs.
The concept implies a switch-over to the industrialization of space, the Moon and other planet resources.
In other Russian spaceflight news, specialists from Korolev RSC Energia together with representatives of subcontractors of the spaceflight industry, have begun performing preflight processing of the Progress M-58 transport cargo vehicle, which is slated for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 23, 2006.
During September 2006, the Progress M-58 vehicle was transported to from RSC Energia Experimental Machine-Building Plant to the cosmodrome where electrical tests were performed. Other checks included intergrated tests of vehicle systems, the Kurs docking radio system and the vehicle pressure integrity.
Final operations are currently underway including transporting the vehicle to the fueling station, where the vehicle systems will be loaded with with propellant and working components. The cargo bay of the vehicle accommodates the cargoes to be delivered to ISS.
