Russia - America cooperated to build a space station on the Moon

Russia and the US have just reached an agreement to build the first space station on the Moon. This is part of a long-term plan to bring people to Mars.

The Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the US Space Agency (NASA) will jointly build a new space station called the Deep Space Gateway in the Moon's orbit. This will be an international base for humans and robots to explore the Moon and a stop for spacecraft.

"We have agreed to cooperate on the Moon's Deep Space Gateway International Space Station project , " RT quoted Roscosmos President Igor Komarov on the sidelines of the International Astronaut Conference at Adelaide, Australia, September 27.

According to AFP, NASA said the agreement reflects the common vision of the two space agencies on the mission of human space exploration. Russia and the United States will cooperate to build the necessary systems for organizing the implementation of scientific missions in orbit and on the surface of the Moon as well as on Mars.

Simulation of the Deep Space Gateway space station on the Moon's orbit.(Photo: NASA).

"The station's parts and equipment, as well as the live maintenance system will be built based on the Russian design ," Roscosmos said.

The Russian side said the two sides also discussed the use of Moscow's Proton-M and Angara missiles and other spacecraft to serve the construction of the infrastructure for the Moon space station. The main activities of the project are expected to begin in 2020.

"We understand that we play a key role and we have to do these tasks together , " Komarov said. "The station will be an important platform for future research".

Experts welcomed the deal, considering it a symbolic beginning of US-Russian cooperation on deep space exploration.

Cosmic exploration is one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the United States not affected by political tension between the two countries. Russian and American astronauts work together on the ISS international space station, orbiting the Earth since 1998.