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The European Space Agency has pushed back the target for flying the
manned space plane Hermes by a further two years. Jean-Marie Luton, head
of ESA, said he ‘did not see a manned European flight’ on Hermes before
2005.

An unmanned ‘demonstration flight’ would be launched before the end
of the decade to study atmosphere re-entry problems. Another part of the
ESA space programme, the Columbus free-flyer, will be cut altogether if
ESA’s 13 member countries approve the plan.

ESA argues that the new delay to Hermes allows time to bring Russian
space know-how into the programme. This could save 20 per cent on the Hermes
budget.

But France’s national centre for space studies, CNES, fears this would
undermine France’s lead in Hermes. ‘Opening up to Russia is essential .
. . but we must not upset the industrial balance in the West or we would
lose out on all fronts,’ said CNES general director Jean-Daniel Levi.