Russia’s New Reusable Spacecraft

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Russia’s New Reusable Spacecraft Good for up to 5 Flights

TOMSK, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s new reusable spacecraft that is being developed by the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation will be able to make up to five space flights, the rocket maker said on Wednesday.

Read more...

[Chooky88]

Why only 5? Love to see pics. Glad it can leave orbit, something the space shuttle never did. That would have been cool to put a lander in the cargo bay or even a fly over. But they never left orbit. Can anyone tell me why?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Why only 5? Love to see pics. Glad it can leave orbit, something the space shuttle never did. That would have been cool to put a lander in the cargo bay or even a fly over. But they never left orbit. Can anyone tell me why?

In simple terms because it wasn't designed to.

It was a huge vehicle compared to other spacecraft and would have required a huge amount of fuel to leave orbit.

It was only designed for orbital re-entry speeds (17,000 mph) not the sort of speeds that Apollo re-entered at (30,000 mph +). It's wings would have ripped of at those sorts of speeds.

The shuttle was designed as a space truck to take objects back and forward to low Earth orbit, not for deep space exploration.