Russian Mars Missions

Russia will send three pilotless expeditions to Mars between 2009 and 2015. One will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2009 towards Mars’ moon. Another one, will fly around the Red Planet, will be launched in 2012. The task of the third expedition, in about 3 years after the second, is purely practical: landing onto Mars’ surface and exploration by means of a mars rover. The director adds that “robots, and not humans, piloted and pilot the way to space for mankind.”