An artist's rendering of the Kliper spacecraft. Credit: Channel I of the Russian television.

Almaty, Kazakhstan (UPI) Sep 16, 2004 - Four former Soviet republics said they will create a single rocket-and-space corporation, local media reported Thursday.

The decision was made in Astana, the Kazakh capital, earlier this week by the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Itar-Tass news agency said.

The new corporation will include space enterprises in the four countries and will operate the Kliper manned shuttle spacecraft, according to Itar-Tass. Kliper was proposed in 2004 by the Russian Energia Corp. and was designed to replace the Soyuz.

The news agency reported Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau from the city Dnepropetrovsk and a machine-building plant could join the corporation on the Ukrainian side.

Kazakhstan can provide unique testing ranges and Belarus can offer unique possibilities in the sphere of optics, Kuchma said.