MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Russia is considering the United States' request to design a Soyuz reentry spaceship which could transport astronauts to and from the moon, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Rossiya 24 (VGTRK) television.
"It's the Americans, who are experiencing such political problems, who are insisting and asking that we continue flights of Soyuz spaceships with U.S. astronauts on board, even though the Americans will start flying their own ships, and they're even asking us to design a Soyuz modification capable of traveling to and from the moon in order to have a second, backup space transport system," Rogozin said.
Russia's new Soyuz-5 Irtysh rocket is due to perform its first flight in 2022, he said.
"Our new medium rocket, the Soyuz-5 Irtysh, should appear in 2022. Test flights of the new manned spaceship will also begin in 2022. We have laid the groundwork for building a super-heavy rocket. We are starting production of the Angara launch vehicle based on a modular principle. Mass production of light and heavy Angara rockets will begin in 2023. And this year, in 2019, we will resume test flights of the heavy Angara," Rogozin said.