And also told whether Russian apple trees will bloom on Mars
The footage of American astronauts landing on the Moon is not a Hollywood montage, assured the head of the Roscosmos state corporation Yuri Borisov, speaking at the government hour in the State Duma. The question that has tormented conspiracy theorists around the world for decades also lived in the minds of deputies. Borisov dispelled all doubts: the United States was on the Earth’s natural satellite, that’s for sure. But when our apple trees will bloom on Mars and whether they will even be ours is not certain.
Photo: duma.gov.ru
— Were we, weren’t we? Hollywood, not Hollywood? Or, if they were, did they receive such signals that they are now trying in every possible way to blur some of their rigid principled positions? – Deputy Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) asked the head of Roscosmos.
Yuri Borisov, of course, did not comment on whether Neil Armstrong and his colleagues in the US lunar program came into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. However, once and for all, I dispelled all doubts about the fact that the astronauts may not have flown to the Moon at all.
Alas, they did.
— I have only one fact. I was interested in this matter. At one time, they gave us part of the lunar soil that the astronauts delivered during this expedition. According to the examination of our Academy of Sciences, the lunar soil turned out to be lunar soil,” said the head of the space corporation.
Borisov also shared his pain about international cooperation in space. Earlier, Yaroslav Nilov recalled that even during the Cold War, the space theme played the role of a reconciling factor in relations between the USSR and the USA. And what now?
And again, alas, now everything is bad.
— As for international cooperation, it is practically reduced to nothing today, — Borisov complained, — with the exception of our joint work on the ISS.
The International Space Station is perhaps today the only place where Americans and Russians live together. And why all? They have no time for politics there.
— Here we are doing everything possible to maintain this cooperation as long as possible. It really brings real results. I dare to assure you that the station crew lives amicably, does not discuss political issues, and solves all scientific problems together. They have parties there, have lunch and dinner together. In this regard, there is complete order there.
But relations with the European Space Agency are measured at zero. And this is very offensive, Borisov noted. And Europeans suffer from this no less than we do. In 2022, we had a grand plan with them: the Exo-Mars project was supposed to start. A lot of money was spent on it, the head of the state corporation emphasized. The Russian side alone invested 40 billion rubles.
— The political situation led to the Europeans abandoning this project. I don’t know who benefited from this,” he said.
It can be assumed that the Chinese won partly. In any case, Russia has transferred its interest in terms of cooperation in space to them, as well as to other BRICS partners. True, this does not mean at all that our apple trees will soon bloom on Mars. SRZP deputy Dmitry Gusev is seriously concerned about this question: will they bloom or not?
Programs for deep space exploration, not only Mars, have now been curtailed, Borisov complained. And this is also very offensive.
— Scientific space is now reduced to the lunar program, where by 2030 we must carry out several missions — flights of automatic vehicles. And further development is connected with interaction with Chinese colleagues on the creation of a lunar station, he explained and added that Russia’s contribution to this project is very important. The Chinese are interested in creating our nuclear installation. We are one of the few in the world who can implement such an experiment in practice.
— It is very complex in itself. This radiation situation is appropriate. It is necessary to deliver the unit to the Moon, land it, eliminate the possibility of radiation contamination, and connect it to consumption sources. This is a rather complicated process, but we are taking on it, assured Yuri Borisov.
As for apple trees, they may bloom on Venus. Scientific developments to study the second planet from the Sun are underway in Russia. As for manned flights, this requires a super-heavy carrier, explained the head of the corporation. In Russia there was such a carrier. But now he's gone. Its cost is estimated at approximately a trillion rubles and ten years of work.