Russia asked to develop Soyuz spacecraft version for flights to Moon

Moscow: NASA is requesting Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos to develop the Soyuz spacecraft version for flights to the Moon, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV Channel.

“They are requesting us to develop the Soyuz spacecraft that could fly to the Moon and back to create a backup space transport system,” Rogozin said.

NASA also insists that Russia should continue delivering US astronauts aboard Soyuz spaceships to the International Space Station, the Roscosmos chief said.

As was reported earlier, the United States plans to implement the Deep Space Gateway program with the participation of other countries to create a permanent lunar orbital station to regularly receive spacecraft from Earth.