CHELYABINSK, October 8. /TASS/. A manned mission to Mars will be possible after 2035, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov told an All-Russia Science Festival in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk on Wednesday.

Mankind was not ready to put the first humans on the Red Planet at present, neither scientifically nor technically, Volkov said. “But I suppose this flight will definitely take place after 2035,” he said, adding that people would start exploring the Moon in the meantime.

“There is water on the Moon, and there is Helium-3, which is better than any other energy source existing on the Earth,” the cosmonaut said. “One day we will run out of oil and coal, and mankind will need energy. Then we will start supplying it from the neighbouring planet.”

Volkov flew into space three times from 1985 to 1992, spending a total of 291 days above Earth. He performed two spacewalks and was the first cosmonaut whose son, Sergey, also went into space.