MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Russia's lunar exploration program stipulates the beginning of manned expeditions to the Moon in the end of the 2020s, Russian Academy of Sciences Vice-President Lev Zelyony told reporters on Friday.
"By the end of the next decade, [the lunar program] envisages landing of manned spaceships on the Moon," Zelyony said.
He said the spaceships would land in well-studied areas of the Moon. The availability of water at the depth of 1-1.5 meters, as well as solar light and visibility from the Earth will be mission factors, he added.
Studies show that areas around the lunar South Pole will be the best for landing of the prospective spaceships, he said.
Automatic research stations will be the first stage of Russia's lunar program, Zelyony continued.
He expects three automatic missions, Luna 25, Luna 26 and Luna 27, to be fulfilled before 2020.
The next stage will be related to automatic missions Luna 28 and Luna 29 due to take place in the middle of the next decade.
"A combination of manned and automatic missions will come next," Zelyony said.
In turn, NPO Lavochkin Deputy General Designer Maxim Martynov said that lunar soil samples would be brought to the Earth by 2025.
The federal space program for 2016-2025 includes four missions, among them a demonstration flight, the construction of an orbiter, a landing mission and a project to deliver lunar soil to the Earth.
"Approximately in 2023-2025, samples will be delivered to the Earth from the [lunar] South Pole; the delivery will be cryogenic in which the temperature of samples collected on the lunar surface will be preserved," Martynov said.