Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

[ScienceRocks]

Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

Russia has started building a spacecraft for manned Lunar missions with the first test scheduled in 2015, the project developer said Thursday.


"The work has already started. The unmanned tests are scheduled in 2015, the first manned mission is planned in 2018," head of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building Gennady Raikunov told local media.

These spaceships are designed to land on and lift off from the Moon, work as space tug boats and service modules for other space vehicles, Raikunov said.

"(Russian federal space agency) Roscosmos has planned the creation of a new manned transportation system to conduct manned flights to the Moon, servicing the vehicles in space," he said.

Raikunov linked the Lunar program to the fate of Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Whether Russia will continue the ISS work after 2020 depends on the progress of the Lunar program.

"It is necessary to determine the main direction of manned cosmonautics development. Current strategy envisages focusing on the manned flights to the Moon, including the creation of a base on its surface," he said.

Last week, head of the Lavochkin Scientific and Production Corp. Victor Khartov said Russia must "return to the Moon in 2015 in a Soviet style, to prove everyone and ourselves that we remember all the Soviet Union could do" at the Farnborough air show in Britain.

The Russian space strategy until 2030 presented by Roscosmos regards the Moon missions as a step toward the manned flight to Mars.

VietNamNet - Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base | Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

GO RUSSIA!!! I hope China follows close behind. I can't count on the US to do anything anymore. There's more then one way to skin a cat.

 

[ScienceRocks]

More relyable link Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

Russia starts building moon spaceship

Aiming to create the first base on the surface of the moon, Russia has started building a spacecraft for manned lunar missions with the first test scheduled for 2015, the project developer said.

"Work has already started. The unmanned tests are scheduled in 2015, the first manned mission is planned in 2018," Xinhua quoted Gennady Raikunov, head of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, as saying. The spaceships would be designed to land on and lift off from the moon, work as space tug-boats as well as service modules for other space vehicles, he said.


"(Russian federal space agency) Roscosmos has planned the creation of a new manned transportation system to conduct manned flights to the moon and servicing the vehicles in space," Raikunov said.

 

[Politico]

About time someone gets back there.

 

[ScienceRocks]

About time someone gets back there.

Yep,

Russia, China, india, japan all have plans.

Personally, I think it would be best to build a ship in space that's driven by the ion "drive". Can be used over and over again back and forth.

Build a space "dock" around earth to build it in and build a space ship that can hold 7-10 people that can ferry back and forth from the moon. Simply use what they use to go from the surface to space for getting to it.

Find a nice cave that's a few hundred feet long and close the entrance. Now that would be a fine moon base.