MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Russia and China will continue their cooperation in manned space missions, Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov said in an interview to the Zvezda television channel, aired on Tuesday.

"I think that our cooperation in manned space missions is already under way, and will continue," the head of the Russian state-run space corporation said.

The official said that Russia and China plan to jointly engage in missions to the Moon and Mars.

"Russia may be the only country with vast experience of lengthy space missions. I think that this knowledge may be useful not only for the future lunar mission, but for a mission to Mars as well," he added.

Late last year, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and China National Space Administration (CNSA) inked a deal in November this year stipulating bilateral space cooperation in 2023-2027. Russia and China also inked a cooperation deal on mutually supplementing the Glonass and BeiDou global satellite navigation systems.

Moreover, the governments of Russia and China signed an agreement on cooperation in creating an international scientific lunar station. A roadmap for the project was unveiled in June 2021.

Under the roadmap, the construction of the lunar station is expected to be completed by 2035. Two missions are planned in 2026-2030 to test the technologies of landing and cargo delivery and the transportation of lunar soil samples to Earth. The plans envisage developing infrastructure in orbit and on the Moon’s surface in 2031-2035, in particular, communications systems, electrical power, research and other equipment.