inputs: hypothesis: The Soyuz spacecraft is built in China. premise: Krasnov said the new spacecraft will be capable of carrying a crew of six and a payload of 500 kilograms to orbit around the Earth. The Soyuz can only carry a crew of three. Krasnov told reporters last week that the new spaceship should also be capable of delivering a crew of four to lunar orbit. "We want the new ship to be a step into the future, not just a scaled up version of the Soyuz," he said. Russia plans to start construction next year of Vostochny, a new space launch facility in the far eastern Amur region near China. The new cosmodrome is expected to host launches of unmanned spacecraft beginning in 2015 and the first manned missions starting in 2018. Russia currently uses the Soviet-built Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for all of its manned space missions and most important commercial launches.