"Jeff Findley" wrote in message ...
"Rusty Barton" wrote in message
...
Couldn't the ESA use the ATV as a building block to create a manned
capsule?

The outside shape doesn't matter as much as you'd think. It's the cost to
develop, test, and build everything else you need that really dominates the
cost. Note that for decent testing, you ought to have at least a few
unmanned flights of your vehicle. That really drives up the cost with
today's launch costs.

True. But I still think it would be a good idea. It could even be re-used to
conduct certain automated experiments requiring recovery and/or atmosphere
similar to the Russian Photon capsule vs Vostok.