Russia plans to send a manned mission to the moon by 2025 and wants to build a permanent base there shortly after, the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Friday.
”According to our estimates, we will be ready for a manned flight to the Moon in 2025,” Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov told reporters.
An ”inhabited station” could be built there between 2027 and 2032, he said.
Laying out Roskosmos’s plans for the next three decades, Perminov said that Russia intends to complete construction of its section of the International Space Station by 2015 so that the station ”becomes a fully fledged space research centre”.
”Major modernisation” will also be carried out to the Soyuz craft used to ferry people and cargo to the space station.
An expedition to Mars remains a long-term ambition for Roskosmos, he said. — Sapa-AFP