--- title: Russia Plans Man on the Moon By 2030 description: Russia plans to launch a "full-scale" exploration of the moon's surface as early as 2030, the nation's space agency announced on Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-23T18:08:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:21:45.898Z article:section: Science og:title: Russia Plans Man on the Moon By 2030 og:description: Russia plans to launch a "full-scale" exploration of the moon's surface as early as 2030, the nation's space agency announced on Tuesday. og:url: https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt952edcb55af38182/6986a4e9d0b6f2f86c30640d/480542829.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Soyuz TMA-12M Prepares To Launch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia Plans Man on the Moon By 2030 twitter:description: Russia plans to launch a "full-scale" exploration of the moon's surface as early as 2030, the nation's space agency announced on Tuesday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt952edcb55af38182/6986a4e9d0b6f2f86c30640d/480542829.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia Says It's Putting Another Man on the Moon...By 2030  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 23, 2014 6:08 PM UTC  The Soyuz TMA-12M rocket launches to the International Space Station, March 26, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-12M rocket launches to the International Space Station, March 26, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Joel Kowsky—NASA/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 23, 2014 6:08 PM UTC Russia’s space agency said Tuesday it will launch a “full-scale” exploration of the Moon as part of a long-term mission to get a human being on the lunar surface for the first time in decades. The head of Roscomsos, Oleg Ostapenko, said that designs were already underway for a manned spacecraft that he estimated could reach the moon by the end of the next decade. “By that time, based on the results of lunar surface exploration by unmanned space probes, we will designate \[the\] most promising places for lunar expeditions and lunar bases,” Ostapenko said, [according](http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/750900) to a translation by Russian state-owned news agency ITAR-TASS. The mission was announced at a government meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has previously [threatened](http://time.com/97923/moscow-gps-russia-rogozin/) to sever ties with American space agencies over the West’s reproach of Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis. “At the end of the next decade, we plan to complete tests of a super-heavy-class carries rocket and begin full-scale exploration of the Moon,” Rogozin said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/"},"headline":"Russia Says It's Putting Another Man on the Moon...By 2030","datePublished":"2014-09-23T18:08:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:21:45.898Z","description":"One giant leap for mankind, again","url":"https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/","keywords":["Outer Space","russia","moon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt952edcb55af38182/6986a4e9d0b6f2f86c30640d/480542829.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt952edcb55af38182/6986a4e9d0b6f2f86c30640d/480542829.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Soyuz TMA-12M Prepares To Launch","caption":"Soyuz TMA-12M Prepares To Launch","creditText":"Joel Kowsky—NASA/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/outer-space/","name":"Outer Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3422475/russia-moon/","name":"Russia Says It's Putting Another Man on the Moon...By 2030"}}]}] ```