Better late than never. Russia has announced its intention of landing the first Russians on the Moon by 2030.

The Russian Federal Space Agency or Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, said it would launch the manned missions after reviving its lunar program. It will first send unmanned probes to the Moon to scout possible landing sites.

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This is the first time Russia had set a deadline for a Moon landing. 

Russia also announced plans to build its own space station similar to the International Space Station (ISS) starting 2024. Russia, however, promised to continue to work with NASA before then.

Roscosmos said a Russian space station would give the country "with guaranteed access to the cosmos'".

If realized, this will mean the Russians will either be the second or third country to send its men to the Moon. China has said it wants to land Chinese on the Moon by the 2020s.

A 2030 Russian Moon landing will mean Russia will have accomplished this feat 61 years after the United States did.  By the 2030s, however, the U.S. plans to land the first Americans on Mars.

As the linchpin of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Russia challenged the U.S. during the Space Race from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The USSR sent the first man and woman into space, as well as the first orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1. But the USSR failed to match the American's determination and resources to get to the Moon first, a challenge set forward in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.

Russia said in 2014 it might end funding of the ISS in 2020 due to tensions between the U.S and Russia over sanctions targeting Russia.