Russia's new spaceship will fly you to the moon, let you swing among the stars
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/QINE3hHbHEIO8jWwShix0A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY2OQ--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/m8LWJ5PAIIQUdCqSZEZeUQ--~B/aD00MzI7dz02MjA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/12/putinpicard.jpg)
Russia's protracted attempts at replacing the aging space warhorse that is Soyuz may finally bear fruit. RSC Energia has announced that it has finished the design of a prototype spacecraft under the country's Prospective Piloted Transport System -- the equivalent of the Orion program. The as-yet unnamed craft is expected to be ready for testing by 2017, and unlike the current model, will be fully reusable. It's been designed not only as a taxi to take cosmonauts (and the odd multi-billionaire) to the International Space Station, but also ferry crews to the moon. That is, of course, assuming that Elon Musk doesn't get there first and make the moon his summer home.