Russia plans new Moon rocket

To the moon by 2020. [Link]

The rocket is expected to fly its first test mission in about 2015.

According to the objectives given by the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) to industry, a future rocket should be able to hoist a payload three times heavier than Russia's veteran Soyuz spacecraft, including twice the number of crew, and use environmentally friendly propellants.

The development of the new rocket should be accompanied by work on Russia's next-generation manned spacecraft, which will use it to get into orbit.

Russian space officials say the yet-to-be-named rocket should carry its first manned spacecraft in 2018. The project was timed to roughly coincide with the US space agency's (Nasa) plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 under its Constellation programme.