Russian firm plans ‘space taxi’ for moon trips

A Russian company has announced plans to develop a special 'space taxi' to blast people to the moon.

Energia hopes to create a shuttle service based at the International Space Station (ISS) to move astronauts between there and the Moon.

Called Ryvok (Charge), the company claims the proposed spacecraft could slash the cost of a lunar trip by docking at the midway point between Earth and the Moon.

The shuttle will be sent to the ISS by Soyuz ships and Angara rockets

While the US has its sights largely set on Mars, Russia has made it clear it plans to conquer the Moon.

The nation is hoping to launch a lunar probe in 2024 to scout out colony locations, before landing humans on the moon by 2030.

"A mission of the Ryvok multi-entry manned vehicle will cost a third less than a mission of the Federation manned spaceship," said Energia's Yury Makushenko.

The 'Ryvok' project was announced at the Human Space Exploration international conference in Korolev, near Moscow.

Prior to the lunar mission, another launch to the space station would send an 'accelerator block' to act as fuel for Ryvok. This makes the flight dramatically cheaper as instead of a needing a rocket, all that could be needed is a spacecraft and fuel to lift passengers to low-Earth orbit.

When returning from the near-moon orbit, Ryvok would open an 'umbrella' of 55 square metres for braking in the Earth atmosphere.

The comments were made at the conference celebrating the 55th anniversary since Yuri Gagarin made the first manned space flight.