Russian president Vladimir Putin is all set to send Russians to the Red Planet by next year, which might beat NASA’s planned mission to the planet in 2020.

In a documentary that was uploaded on a Russian social media site Vkontakte, Putin revealed Russia’s space plans of launching a mission to Mars in 2019. “We are planning unmanned and later manned launches into deep space, as part of a lunar program and for Mars exploration. The closest mission is very soon, we are planning to launch a mission to Mars in 2019.”

Putin also announced that the country would launch a mission to the polar regions of the Moon too, reported Newsweek. “Our specialists will try to make landings on the poles, because there is reason to believe that there can be water there. There is research to be done there, and from that, research of other planets and outer space can be undertaken.”

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This declaration of Russia’s plans arrives amid NASA’s plan to carry out missions to explore Mars in 2020 and investigate any sign of life. NASA’s mission would take place sometime between July and August 2020 whereas, Putin did not mention any specified time of his 2019 mission. Also, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also preparing its rocket for test flights to Mars by early next year.

Moreover, according to Futurism, up till now, Russia’s attempts for a Mars mission have failed in the past. Back in 2011, the Russian probe Phobos-Grunt was set off for Mars but, failed as it got trapped in the Earth’s orbit and fell back into Pacific.