Russia will not continue work on the International Space Station “after 2024”, which was confirmed by the newly appointed head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov. This confirms a position that the Russian Space Agency has already made public in recent months, even during the reign of the controversial Dmitry Rogozin.
AFP publish that Borisov said this after a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We will definitely fulfill all obligations to our partners. But the decision to leave the station after 2024 has already been made.”the official said.
Russia’s determination to leave the International Space Station comes as no surprise. The international sanctions that the country has received for the war in Ukraine have served as a trigger for recent friction between Roscosmos and other space agencies involved in the development and maintenance of the ISS.
When Rogozin was still in charge of the Russian agency, he stated that the decision to leave the Station at the end of 2024 had been made; All that remained was to formally notify NASA. And while there was some illusion that Russia would finally fulfill its commitment to continue its activities until 2030, this possibility now seems to be completely ruled out.
It is worth noting that Roscosmos must inform at least a year in advance in order to complete its departure from the International Space Station at the end of the link before 2024. However, NASA has indicated that they are still they haven’t received an official announcement about it. In dialogue with ReutersISS Director Robin Gateens said: “Nothing official yet. We literally just saw it. But we haven’t received anything official yet.”
Russia says it’s leaving the International Space Station
According to the head of Roscosmos, the Russian project of its own space station is gaining momentum. It became official in 2021 with the expectation of launching the first main module of the orbital station in 2025. By that time, Russia had already begun to flirt with the possibility of leaving the International Space Station.
In any case, Yuri Borisov himself, at that time the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, assured that the analysis was motivated not by political issues, but by the age of the ISS. But, of course, this was a few months before the start of the invasion of the territory of Ukraine.
For now, the Russian announcement leaves several issues in limbo, pending a written submission of the International Space Station’s “retirement.” However, this is a clear demonstration that the plans of Roscosmos for the future of its space program are very ambitious. In fact, it has already teamed up with China to set up its own lunar station.
It will also be necessary to see if Borisov’s statement will affect the most recent agreements signed by Russia and the US, although the official says this is not the case. as assembled APEarlier this month, both countries promised that Western astronauts would be able to travel to the ISS on Russian rockets, and Russian cosmonauts on SpaceX rockets. In addition, they agreed that there is always at least one Russian and one American in orbit to support the proper functioning of the International Space Station.
Source: Hiper Textual
