Russian cosmonauts to land on Moon after 2028 - Rogozin
MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Russian cosmonauts are planning to land on the Moon after 2028, when trials of the super-heavy lunar launch vehicle begin, Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin said.
"Of course, our cosmonauts will land there when we begin flight tests of our super-heavy rocket. Including the spaceship, that will be done in 2028," Rogozin said on YouTube channel Soloviev Live.
The landing on the Moon will test technologies of landing on other celestial bodies, "above all asteroids," Rogozin said.
Unlike asteroids, the Moon cannot be the source of minerals and valuable materials, Rogozin said.
"Suggestions that it could be the source of helium 3 isotope as rocket fuel [imply] that a plant will have to be built for processing this material and extracting rocket fuel components. That looks like daydreaming," Rogozin said.
Rogozin said earlier that Russian cosmonauts would land on the Moon by 2030. He pledged a crewed mission to the Moon in 2029.