Soviet era spaceship reborn.

New life for old spacecraft?

In the 1970s, the Soviets designed a military space station called Almaz. Under the guise of the non-mThe military program operated briefly, and two stations—called Salyut 3 and Salyut 5—were tested and used. Then, in 1978, the Soviets abandoned the program, deciding that unmanned satellites were more cost-efficient spies than manned space stations.

Now, a private company plans to update these old space vehicles and fly them for private passengers. Excalibur Almaz has acquired some surprisingly well-preserved spacecraft from those times.

Credentials

Hard to say if this will actually happen, but the plan is an audacious and exciting one. In any case, the company has some pretty impressive people on board, including ex-astronauts and one ex-cosmonaut.

Questions remain

The company is ready for commercial and private spaceflight. They say they will tailor flight plans to the requirements of the clients. They’ve got plans to use a variety of spaceports. But…

Who will pilot the spacecraft? Will it be retired cosmonauts and astronauts who are already listed as connected with their company? Or newly trained pilots?

Will the flights be restricted to earth orbit? Or might their be some way to loop around the moon?

And, of course, the big question: Will they really be able to do this? If it happens, it’ll probably be 2 or 3 years from now.