Kliper test vehicle to use Buran ejection seats

Russia's Zvezda has agreed to provide ejection seats for the prototype of Energia's six-crew Kliper reusable spacecraft reports Flight International.

The commercial Kliper will not use ejection seats, but the test vehicle will use seats developed for the former Soviet Union's Buran space shuttle program in the 1980s.

According to public literature the Buran ejection seats were to use a solid rocket motor system that could propel test pilots up to 600 meters (1,800ft) from the Buran when flying at Mach 3 or less.

The Kliper program is being pursued by a consortia of interested Russian, European, Japanese partners. It aims to develop a new manned taxi that builds on the legacy of the Soyuz rather than Buran or the US space shuttle.

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