By Margarita Bogatova, Russia has begun to develop manned spacecraft for flying to the Moon. The testing launches of these spacecrafts will start in 2015. Russian scientists also plan to develop the methods for landing and taking off from the lunar surface, inter-orbital tow trucks, and a spacecraft for technical maintenance of space vehicles. The exploration of lunar surface is an integral part of the space exploration strategy till 2030, which is being developed by Russia’s state space agency Roskosmos. In the future, ifsufficient funding is provided, Russia will be able to build a base on the surface of the Moon, Igor Marinin, chief editor of the News of Cosmonautics magazine says."Recently large water reserves have been discovered on the Moon which means that we don’t need to take water to the Moon from the Earth. It is possible to produce energy, oxygen and chemical substances which serve as fuel components right on the Moon. This makes the lunar exploration much cheaper than it was regarded in the 1970-s. Lunar exploration is a natural step for our country where cosmonautics has always been one of the driving forces of the national technical development, together with the nuclear industry." Tags: Moon, World, Sci-Tech, space, Russia, Opinion & Analysis, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia.
