Who's Building It: Russian Space Agency
Key Features: Replacement for Soyuz transport, which is now over 50 years old.
Powerplant: Second stage, two RD-0124 engines, currently used by Soyuz 2. Launch rocket is still undecided
Capability: Low Earth orbit for ISS re-crewing, resupply Later--Lunar missions, possibly Mars
Payload to Orbit: Six crew plus 500kg of payload to ISS
Uncrewed--2000kg to orbit, 500kg back to Earth
System It Replaces: Soyuz
Due Date: Not determined. Preliminary development scheduled to end June 2010

The Soviet era has long gone, but the secrecy and confused press relationships of the Russian Space agency have continued. The PPTS is proposed as a successor to the Soyuz capsule, which is at heart a 50 year-old design. Essentially it takes the capsule and service module idea of Soyuz and modernizes it significantly, adding capabilities and payload. But details on the exact state of the PPTS are hard to come by. It seems Russia does still have bold plans for the vehicle, paralleling NASA's plans for the Moon and perhaps even Mars.