Russia announced this week it will establish a human colony on the surface of the moon by 2040. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Russia has announced a new plan to put cosmonauts on the moon and set up a lunar colony by 2040.

Russian national space agency Roscomos first envisioned the three-stage plan in 2014. It has since reviewed hundreds of cosmonaut applications for the project.


The final stage of a three-stage moon exploration program is scheduled to begin after 2035 with construction of a fully habitable lunar base that will be completed by 2040.

The first stage will include technology testing through 2025, and the second will see the first manned flights to the moon between 2025 and 2035.

"The lunar program will be implemented in several stages," Roscosmos said Wednesday after a joint session with the Russian Academy of Sciences' space council.

"The goal of Moon exploration programs is to protect national interests on the new space frontier."

The United States is the only country that's ever sent a human to the moon. The last left in 1972.