Europeans Launching a Prototype Wingless Spacecraft on 2013

Thales Alenia Space of European Space Agency is developing a wingless spacecraft that is capable of transporting humans to space station, penciled to take off by 2013.
The European Space Agency declared that they have plans to launch a privately built snub-nosed space bullet, which has a similarity on a wingless, truncated space shuttle. Thales Alenia Space will be the one to develop the said spacecraft and will launch it within the next two years.
The IXV, also known as Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, is a two-ton “lifting body” with two moving flaps that will control the spacecraft movement. It will be launched with an ESA vega rocket that can reach a speed of 16,000 miles per hour and 280 miles in altitude. After exploring the space, the spacecraft will return to Earth by means of its flaps and parachute to a splash landing in the Pacific Ocean.
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