MOSCOW: Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032, the head of the space agency said on Friday. The head of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), Anatoly Perminov, said that in accordance with Russia's space programme through 2040, a manned flight to Mars will be carried out after 2035. He said that toward the end of this year, Russia will have 103 satellites in orbit, up from the current 95.
There are plans for a new space centre in the country, but a site has not yet been selected, he said. Russia currently launches all manned flights from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Perminov said previously that construction of a new launch facility would only begin after a new type of spacecraft was built. A major source of revenue for the agency in recent years has been space tourist flights from Baikonur to the International Space Station (ISS), with tickets currently priced at around $30 million. Russia has put five wealthy foreign tourists into space since 2001. Perminov said the first Russian space tourist, who will fly to the ISS in 2009, is a businessman and politician. "He asked me not to disclose his name yet. I can only say that he is a serious young Russian businessman and politician. He is currently undergoing medical tests." The agency chief said that in 2016-25, after the ISS is put out of operation, Russia plans to deploy a platform in a low-earth orbit to assemble spacecraft. The US has said the station should be scrapped in 2015, while Russia has proposed using the Russian segment until 2020. Perminov said: "The ISS will be transformed into a laboratory complex where research will be conducted."
taken directly from: India Times http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthScience/Russia_to_set_up_manned_lunar_base/articleshow/2330458.cms
There are plans for a new space centre in the country, but a site has not yet been selected, he said. Russia currently launches all manned flights from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Perminov said previously that construction of a new launch facility would only begin after a new type of spacecraft was built. A major source of revenue for the agency in recent years has been space tourist flights from Baikonur to the International Space Station (ISS), with tickets currently priced at around $30 million. Russia has put five wealthy foreign tourists into space since 2001. Perminov said the first Russian space tourist, who will fly to the ISS in 2009, is a businessman and politician. "He asked me not to disclose his name yet. I can only say that he is a serious young Russian businessman and politician. He is currently undergoing medical tests." The agency chief said that in 2016-25, after the ISS is put out of operation, Russia plans to deploy a platform in a low-earth orbit to assemble spacecraft. The US has said the station should be scrapped in 2015, while Russia has proposed using the Russian segment until 2020. Perminov said: "The ISS will be transformed into a laboratory complex where research will be conducted."
taken directly from: India Times http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthScience/Russia_to_set_up_manned_lunar_base/articleshow/2330458.cms
1 comment:
Yaiy. I'm glad we're all trying to get back to the moon.
Placing my bets on whether (1) the Russian vehicle makes it to the moon... (2) with live passengers.
Russia has materials and experience with orbital platforms. But assembling stuff in space seems like a sci-fi dream. It is so expensive to gather materials and manufacture parts. Launching materials and workers into space... no. A space factory seems like a bad idea. But final assembly might be alright. This sparks my interest.
I wish someone would use the space station as a staging point for a different space craft. One that was designed to stay "in space". Go to the moon and back, and maybe orbit Earth.
USA already visited the moon, so I dunno if we are in a hurry this time around. I know money was shifted from Mars to the moon.
This might sound like a dumb question. Are there still a lot of smart people in Russia? Don't they have money problems? Is their space program profitable? Space tourism seems to be.
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