According to the latest headline on Drudge, Russia is planning a man to the moon, or possibly the remote Arizona desert, depending on the tightness of your tin foil hat:
Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032, the head of the space agency said Friday. Anatoly Perminov said that in accordance with Russia’s space program through 2040, a manned flight to Mars will be carried out after 2035.
He said that toward the end of this year, Russia will have 103 satellites in orbit, up from the current 95.
Gotta love the long term planning. Currently, I think NASA is just glad to land a shuttle, let alone plan the next 20 years of flights. But I love the whole moon space station thing. Hopefully, they don’t send their prisoners there and they start throwing rocks at us, because we all know, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.1”
1 Currently available in the All American Bookstore for just $4.62. Hey, TANSTAAFL! That’s a bargain.
