Story from Spiegel Online:

The German Aerospace Center and European aerospace group EADS unveiled a plan this week for a European manned spacecraft. But the project will only lift off if Europe's politicians back it.

The news was only announced to a small group of people. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the aerospace group EADS Astrium had invited a mere handful of journalists to Bremen. Hardly any information had been revealed before the meeting, only nebulous hints.

Now the reason for the secrecy has become apparent. Astrium is planning to add a new chapter to the history of space exploration. Engineers have quietly been developing a plan that would lead to the entry of Europe into manned space travel -- if it gets political backing.


Planners say manned European spaceflight could become a reality within nine years. The essence of the plan is to turn Europe's unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) into a full spacecraft in two stages.

The Europeans are proud of the school bus-sized vehicle. Its first incarnation, dubbed the "Jules Verne," successfully finished its maiden flight a few weeks ago and completed an automated docking at the International Space Station (ISS). "We caused a stir in the world with that," DLR head Johann-Dietrich Wörner said. Just after the launch, Wörner received congratulatory text messages from NASA boss Michael Griffin and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Perminov. There were also euphoric reactions when the ATV guided the ISS to a higher orbit as planned....