US Vice President Mike Pence in late March announced he wanted to return NASA astronauts back to the Moon by 2024, four years earlier than NASA’s original goal. The last time an astronaut set foot on the Moon, 47 years ago, in the Apollo 17 mission.

However, Mr. Rogozin, Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) expressed doubts about the true purpose of the United States. He said that US space flights could be intended to cover up the Pentagon’s military tests.

"Perhaps they are trying to repeat an achievement 50 years ago. Of course we understand that those space missions are often just a cover-up as well as in the past decades. Space is not always "The mission creates many related technologies that can be used by the military for their own goals," Rogozin said.

Despite this, Director Roscosmos noted that he did not mean to use the Moon for military purposes.

"But it does not exclude the possibility that Americans carry out experiments that the US military cares about," he added.

The space race between the US and Russia began to erupt after World War II and the Cold War. Russia was the first country to take astronauts into space while Washington was the first to bring astronauts to the Moon.

The United States is by far the only country to make walking trips to the Moon.