Japan plans several new manned spacecraft

Space.com : The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is developing both a new rocket and suborbital point-to-point craft. The rocket will launch either a traditional capsule or a mini-shuttle. Both craft will have the option of carrying three crew members and up to 400 kg of cargo. The capsule design would have two variants, a heavier capsule for landing on the ground and a lighter capsule for landing on water. The capsule design itself will be an evolution of JAXA’s current H-IIB Transfer Vehicle, which has already delivered cargo to the International Space Station. All the crafts will be launched by a new Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rocket, designated H-X. To keep up with suborbital developments in the US, such as Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two, JAXA also plans two point-to-point vehicles that would use rockets and ramjets to attain hypersonic launch speeds and hence higher altitudes than those of the competition.