So what's happening with Russia's new, long-delayed crewed spacecraft?

Russia says it has a "promising, reusable manned transport spacecraft."

The short version

• Russia says it has a “promising, reusable manned transport spacecraft.” In what seems like an alternate universe in hindsight, Russia and the European Space Agency began discussing collaboration on next-generation crewed spacecraft two decades ago.
• Under the agreement , Europe would have provided a service module to power a crew capsule carrying up to six passengers.
• Europe ultimately decided not to pursue a crewed spacecraft project at the time, and Russia’s state-backed space corporation, Roscosmos, chose to move ahead with a crewed spacecraft on its own.

What happened

For starters, the relatively new chief executive of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, appears to have jettisoned the “Eagle” name of the spacecraft favored by Rogozin. In a recently published Interfax story , the spacecraft is referred to as PTK NP.

Why it matters

Bakanov, in comments translated for Ars by Rob Mitchell, told the publication that tests of the spacecraft’s parachute system will begin this fall.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.