After Bush speech, Russia mulls missions to Moon and Mars

MOSCOW (AFP) Jan 15, 2004
In an echo of the Cold War space race, Russia said Thursday that it had the know-how to relaunch its space exploration programs, a day after Washington laid out ambitious plans to return to the Moon and press on to Mars.
"We have many initiatives from researchers on organizing expeditions to the Moon and Mars," said Nikolai Moiseyev, a deputy director of the Russian Rosaviakosmos space agency.

"Technically, the first flight to Mars could be made in 2014. It would cost around 15 billion dollars (11.7 billion euros) to do it, compared with the American estimate for their project of 150 billion dollars," said Leonid Gorshkov, chief designer with Energia, the Russian space constructor.

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040115162118.8ffpi9bk.html