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Tuesday, February 3, 2004 Europe Plans Manned Moon Mission 2020, Mars 2030 Ariane Rocket. Credit: ESA Technically it's not like the 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union vied for the first person on the Moon. None of the contenders are calling it a race. But that's not stopping them from doing it anyway. Europe has announced that it will put a man on the moon by 2020-2025 and a man on Mars on 2033. The ESA has said that it will launch a mission in 2007 to test a new reentry vehicle needed for its missions, followed by the 2009 ExoMars mission, a 2014 sample return mission, a 2026 test mission, a 2030 cargo mission, and the final 2033 manned mission. This puts it close to the other major contenders, the United States and Russia, and ahead of the doubtful 2050+ Indian mission and the undated eventual Chinese attempt. Europe has seen many successes in recent years with its space program, including the successful deployment of the most advanced spacecraft to ever orbit Mars. Although the dates for the mission are still preliminary, there are high hopes that it will succeed. (More info: Yahoo! News) @ 16:02 EST