MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Federal Space Agency will hold a closed tender among Russian space industry companies for the construction of a new "Clipper" manned spacecraft, the head of the agency said Wednesday.
Anatoly Perminov said, "We are now preparing to hold a closed tender among Russian companies."
Other than Energia rocket and space corporation, he did not specify which companies would take part in the tender.
"We are also ready for and open to cooperation with foreign countries on Clipper," Perminov said.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA) will arrive in Moscow for talks on December 9.
Perminov said Dordain would make public the decision, reached by the 14 countries involved in the International Space Station project, on Europe's participation in the Clipper project.
"The very fact that none of the participant countries have spoken against [the project] is significant," Perminov said.
He said if Europe declined to participate, this would prolong the timeframe of the project.
