The option of creating an international station in a high near-Moon orbit with a 70,000 km apogee (the Moon orbit’s farthest point from the Earth’s center) has been approved as the basic version, Roscosmos Piloted Space Programs Executive Director Sergei Krikalyov told TASS on Friday.

"The question was about whether to fly to a low near-Moon orbit at an altitude of 100-200 km, from which it would be easier to land on the Moon, or to opt for a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of about 70,000 km," Krikalyov said on the sidelines of the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students.

"It [the highly elliptical orbit] is unstable and has its own advantages and disadvantages. It can be used as a transitional point, from which it is possible to fly both to the Moon and into deep space. After weighing all the arguments for and against, we decided that cooperation in a high near-Moon orbit is the most effective next step," he said.

As Krikalyov specified, none of the countries has allocated funds to finance this project so far. The negotiations on creating the Deep Space Gateway station in the Moon’s orbit have been going on for several years now.