Plans to land the first Europeans on the Moon 'will be in place by the end of the year'

A timeline for putting the first Europeans on the surface of the moon will be in place by the end of the year, the European Space Agency has announced. David Parker, the agency's Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, made the comments during a space conference in Wales earlier this week. Plans for a European moonshot are already in motion, he added, part of which would see the construction of a space station in orbit above the lunar surface. The lunar gateway would provide not only a stepping stone to the moon but also to Mars, as well as providing a test bed to explore how space living impacts humans. Dr Parker -- who is also the former head of the UK Space Agency -- discussed the plans during the 2019 UK Space Conference that was held in Newport, Wales, from September 24–26.