Russia Looks to Develop Its Own Space Station

[steaner]

Russian space officials recently confirmed reports that the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos is looking to create a low-orbit space station that could be used for assistance in manned missions to the moon.

Along with future missions to the moon, the U.S., Russia, China, and Japan have plans for missions to Mars, but the proper infrastructure must first be created. Roscosmos would like to use the low-orbit station to also launch missions to the Red Planet, but will take it one step at a time, space officials noted.

"We will soon propose to our government a project to construct a low-orbit complex, which could serve as a foundation for the implementation of the Lunar program and later on -- the Mars program," Roscosmos manned space program mission director Alexei Krasnov said. "These are our intentions, but we are working hard to ensure that these plans get adequate financial and legislative support from the government."