Russia, India sign space research pact

MOSCOW, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Russian and Indian space agencies announced their ministers have signed a joint lunar research and exploration pact.

Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov and G. Madhavan Nair, secretary of India's Department of Space and chairman of the Space Commission, signed the agreement, RIA Novosti reported Monday. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Moscow on an official visit.

Russian space agency officials said the country's first unmanned moon mission in 2010 would be strictly Russian but the second unmanned mission, which includes a lunar rover, would be carried out jointly with India in 2011.