The Huffington Post
by Nick Robins-Early
Posted: Updated:
Because Russia hasn’t been accused of imperial behaviour quite enough lately, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced on Friday that the nation plans to carve out an area of operations on the moon.
According to Voice of Russia, Rogozin explained to government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Friday that since Russia is “going to come to the moon forever,” it doesn’t make much sense to keep making trips back and forth. Instead, Rogozin says, Moscow will plan on establishing a permanent base on the moon, which could mean that as its sole human occupants they’d essentially be in control up there.
“It would hardly be rational to make some ten or twenty flights to the moon, and then wind it all up and fly to Mars or some asteroids,” Rogozin explained, according to the Voice of Russia translation. The plan follows the same logic as leaving a toothbrush and extra-clothes at your boyfriend’s place so you can go straight out, with the difference that this will presumably cost billions of dollars.