Experience has shown that it is very important within an international programme to have a robust approach in terms to access to space,

On the Russian side, of course, they have in mind space tourism and propose a certain level of comfort; but the main objective is science,

For future exploration, when we have the objective of going to the Moon, it is important to have several possibilities to go there, and within this framework of cooperation to have our own access to orbit around the Moon.

It's meant to service the space station and to go between Earth and an orbit around the Moon with six crew members.

The objective is to have a vehicle which is more comfortable than the Soyuz capsule which will be used with pilots and four passengers,

This evening, which I have tried to spirit away, is a strange burden to me. While time moves on, while the day will soon end and I already wish it gone, there are men who have entrusted all their hopes to it, all their love and their last efforts. There are dying men or others who are waiting for a debt to come due, who wish that tomorrow would never come. There are others for whom the day will break like a pang of remorse; and others who are tired, for whom the night will never be long enough to give them the rest that they need. And I - who have lost my day - what right do I have to wish that tomorrow comes?