FOXNews.com - Europeans Aim to Build Own Manned Spacecraft - by Jeremy Hsu

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Europeans Aim to Build Own Manned Spacecraft - by Jeremy Hsu

Plenty of European astronauts and hardware have gone up to the space station or to other orbits around Earth, but now the European Space Agency (ESA) is thinking of ways to get them back down on their own. A Vega rocket on the drawing boards is slated to carry ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) into space in 2012. The stubby white-and-black spacecraft is designed to use two rear flaps in a paddling motion to steer itself during atmospheric reentry. Such a demonstration craft could perhaps pave the way for Europe to return its astronauts to Earth without relying on the U.S. or Russian space programs."With ATV [Automated Transfer Vehicle] and Columbus, the European space laboratory, we believe Europe has now become one of the major players in manned space exploration," said John Ellwood, ATV mission manager.