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Russia’s space corporation to submit its updated lunar program to government in June

The program will be adjusted to the four-launch scheme

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos plans to submit its updated lunar program to the Russian government in June, Roscosmos Executive Director for Long-Term Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko told reporters on Saturday.

"We will submit the program, updated in accordance with the four-launch scheme, to the government in June," he said during the New Knowledge forum.

According to the Russian space official, the current version of the lunar program envisages the use of a super-heavy carrier rocket. The alternative variant is to use four Angara rockets for the purpose.

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said in late 2020 that the availability of two launch pads for the Angara carrier rocket (at the Vostochny and Plesetsk space centers) from 2023 would make it possible to combine launches, assembling crewed spaceships in orbit. This would serve as the basic instrument for the start of lunar explorations, he said. This March, the Roscosmos chief said a four-launch option of sending the crew to the Moon with the help of Angara rockets would be cheaper than a flight with the use of two super-heavy rockets.

Russia plans to send its first manned space mission to the Moon by 2030.

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