Russia Moving Out

Russia recently announced it is planning to put a "space platform" in Earth orbit by 2020. The platform, which will come online roughly when the ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned, will support the launching of manned missions to the Moon and Mars. Russia plans its first manned lunar mission around 2025.

Assuming a space platform is basically a space station, the project will build on Russia's historic strength. From a series of Salyuts, through Mir, to the ISS, Russia has more experience building and operating space stations than any other nation. With all that experience in low Earth orbit, however, no manned Soviet or Russian spacecraft has ever ventured beyond Earth orbit, so the focus on flights to the Moon and Mars represents a shift in Moscow's thinking. By positioning this project post-ISS and in the same time frame the U. S. plans to build a lunar base, Russia could become a major player in any international lunar base program. China, too, is planning manned lunar flights in the 2020s, and the Europeans are interested in participating in a lunar program with partners.

If international political friction doesn't get in the way, an international, cooperative lunar base program in the 2020s seems somewhere in the cards. If that comes about and is successful, it could serve not simply as a model for an international Mars program, but perhaps as a way to approach major problems on Earth.