Roscosmos, NASA to Set Common Standards for Moon's First Orbit Station – Source

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian and US space agencies will meet next month to set out plans for mankind’s first outpost in the moon’s orbit, which will include a Russia-built module, a source told Sputnik on Thursday.

"A bilateral working meeting will kick off in Houston on April 9, where Russia will present a report on the work it has done on the lunar station to coordinate the integration of a Russian-built sluice module and a US-built super-heavy SLS booster and the Orion spaceship," the space industry source said.

The meet-up will follow last September’s cooperation agreement between Russia’s Roscosmos and United States’ NASA to build a gateway to future deep space missions in lunar orbit. The segment that Russia intends to build will serve as an exit for astronauts going on spacewalks.

The module will be designed by RKK Energia, Russia’s main rocket and space corporation. The segment is expected to be built by 2021 and sent to the United States the following year. It will be lifted into the moon’s orbit atop the SLS rocket in 2025, the source said.