Russia is developing a mega-rocket and will build a base on the Moon

MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - November 29, 2016 - Russia is developing a mega-rocket that will transport supplies to build a base on the Moon, the country's Deputy Prime Minister has revealed.

President Vladimir Putin wants work to begin on the new super-heavy rocket, which will pave the way for a lunar research station.

It will enable the construction of a Russian base that will be both “visitable and inhabitable”, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

“On instructions from the president, which are being finalized technically, we are launching a super-heavy space rocket project with quite different payload capabilities,” he told experts at the space rocket corporation Energiya. “It will pave the way for implementing the idea of a research station on the Moon, visitable and inhabitable.”

The rocket project was given the nod in autumn 2014 but was postponed last year.

There was no mention of the scheme in the country's federal space program for 2016 to 2025.

It comes after reports emerged that Russia is planning to land its first cosmonauts on the Moon in 2031.

The bold claim was made by a Russian rocket firm boss, who said that the landing would be preceded by a series of unmanned flights starting in 2026.

The news follows recent reports that Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to build a Moon base to house 12 cosmonauts.

The ambitious Moon landing mission will kick off in 2026 with an unmanned flight to the Moon followed by a take-off and landing module being launched into the Moon's orbit in 2027, said RSC Energia CEO Vladimir Solntsev.

In 2029, a new spacecraft named Federation will fly to the Moon's orbit, he added.

“In the 2030s, we set the task of a manned flight to the Moon and in 2031 we plan landing on the Moon,”' said Solntsev.

Russia is inviting ESA and NASA to jointly develop a module for landing on the Moon, Solntsev said.

So far, only NASA has managed to land humans on the Moon.

During the course of the Apollo missions, 12 astronauts set foot on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972.

In September, Roscosmos revealed that it had started a series of simulations in preparation for the country's plans to permanently station 12 cosmonauts on the lunar surface.