China and Russia just signed an agreement to construct and work on an "International Scientific Lunar Station" orbiting the Moon, according to statements from both countries' space agencies on Tuesday.

This comes on the heels of months of talks between the two space powers, as Russia considered joining https://interestingengineering.com/nasa-contracts-spacex-first-lunar-outpost-launches">NASA's Gateway program — a rival lunar space station on schedule for construction by a gigantic coalition of other countries and private entities during the coming decade.

China and Russia's forthcoming International Scientific Lunar Station will be "a complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in orbit of the Moon," read a Roscosmos statement, in a report from The Verge. The project will aim to offer support to a wide scope of research experiments "with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation with the prospect of a human presence on the moon."

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