As you read this, MirCorp Chairman Yuri P. Semenov
and President Jeffrey Manber are mulling over a concept
to take a modified (lightened and shrunk) Soyuz spacecraft,
having a mass of only 5680kg (that value should be familiar
to some of you who've perused "Encyclopedia Astronautica")
and add an inflatable crew-hab module to it with a mass/weight of no more than 520kg/1050Ibs and having a
comfortable live-in volume of over 1000 cubic feet to
accomodate a "paying-passenger" and a professional cosmonaut
in LEO (and elsewhere?) for upto two weeks.
Total mass? 5680kg + 520kg = 6,200kg (Less than the present total-mass of a three-module Soyuz).
Note that the concept specifications may be altered
somewhat in the coming months to meet certain requirements.

No general media release yet! The concept will be studied by MirCorp before they will publically come out
and say whether that is the concept they will pursue
this decade...But you read it here first.

If some of you are doubting the validity of this info,
think again! I have a reliable source for this info, folks. So those of you who may be skeptical, don't risk any betting money against me, you'll lose!

Stay tuned! I'll let you know what decision Jeffery Manber & Yuri P. Semenov will take on this proposed concept.

You'll read it here first!

Jacob