Vladimir Putin Plans to 'Invade the Moon' Using $22 Million Rocket in August, NASA Confirms
Vladimir Putin is planning to invade the moon using a $22 million rocket later this summer, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development to come more than 16 months after the Russian leader invaded Ukraine, Putin has now reportedly shifted his attention to the Lunar South Pole.
That is the revelation shared by Daily Star on Wednesday in a report that indicated Russia is scheduled to launch a lunar probe to the moon in August in the country’s first all-Russian exploration mission since 2011.
According to the outlet, the lunar probe – dubbed the Lunar 25 – is set to land at the Boguslawsky lunar impact crater.
The mission will reportedly include “30kg of scientific instruments” and “a robotic arm to collect soil samples.”
Putin’s space agency, Next Spaceflight, also indicated that Russia plans to “drill directly into the moon's surface.”
Meanwhile, NASA confirmed that Putin is preparing to launch a mission to the Lunar South Pole and that a Soyuz 2.1b rocket will launch from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome sometime in August.
“There are two primary scientific objectives of the mission: to study the composition of the polar regolith, and to study the plasma and dust components of the lunar polar exosphere,” NASA said of the upcoming mission.
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“The lander has a four-legged base containing the landing rockets and propellant tanks, an upper compartment holds the solar panels, communication equipment, on-board computers, and most of the science apparatus,” the space agency added.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson suggested Putin is looking to drill the Boguslawsky lunar impact crater for resources and that the upcoming mission could create a “battle” over who will “lay claim to the moon's rich resources.”
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“It is a fact, we’re in a space race,” Nelson recently told Politico.
“And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research,” he continued, “and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say: ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.”
The mission was initially set to launch in July but was ultimately delayed by one month for unspecified reasons.