As I said earlier regarding NASA's plans for an SRB-based crew transfer vehicle, with a capsule ditching in the ocean (see http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=33011&subForumID=60816&action=viewTopic&commentID=3437805&topicPage=1 ), "Can you picture how terribly antiquated that's going to look, once some of the private suborbital joy-ride outfits start operating their aerospace planes, with return to a runway landing ?? [now substitute the winged Kliper] I must admit that I was disapointed when even t/Space-Rutan proposed a CXV with the old-style capsule & ocean ditching. Sure its the safest & lowest cost thing to do, but its also pretty ancient technology by now."

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/aug05/0805nshut.html

THE RUSSIANS, encouraged by support from their prospective foreign partners, came to Le Bourget in June with a better, bolder Kliper than the one they were showing off just a few months ago. Instead of the wingless vehicle originally envisioned [see News, "Russians Propose a New Space Shuttle," IEEE Spectrum, February], RKK now favors a minishuttle with swept wings. It will double the cargo and crew capacity of the Soyuz capsule, replacing its venerable predecessor, which served more than four decades as the transport and resupply vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS).