Russia will not continue on the International Space Station “after 2024”, as confirmed by Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed head of Roscosmos. In this way, the position that the Russian space agency had already made public in recent months, still during the management of the controversial Dimitri Rogozin, is ratified.
AFP publish that the determination has been made known by Borísov after a televised meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “We will certainly fulfill all our obligations towards our partners. But the decision to leave the Station after 2024 has already been made”said the official.
Russia’s determination to leave the International Space Station comes as little surprise. The international sanctions that the country has received for the war in Ukraine have been the trigger for the most recent friction between Roscosmos and the other space agencies involved in the development and maintenance of the ISS.
When Rogozin was still in charge of the Russian agency, he had stated that the departure from the Station at the end of 2024 was decided; All that remained was to formally notify NASA. And while there was some illusion that Russia would finally keep the commitment to continue until 2030, that possibility now seems completely out of the question.
It is worth mentioning that Roscosmos must inform at least one year in advance to finalize its departure from the International Space Station at the end of the link until 2024. However, NASA indicated that they still they have not received any official communication about it. In dialogue with ReutersISS director Robyn Gatens said: “Nothing official yet. We’ve literally just seen it too. But we haven’t received anything formal yet.”
Russia says it’s leaving the International Space Station
With the words of the head of Roscosmos, the Russian project of having its own space station gains more strength. It became official in 2021, with a view to launching the first core module of the orbital station in 2025. By then, Russia had already begun to flirt with the possibility of leaving the International Space Station.
In any case, Yuri Borísov himself, at the time Russia’s deputy prime minister, had assured that the analysis was not motivated by political issues, but by the age of the ISS. But, of course, that was several months before the invasion of Ukrainian territory was unleashed.
For now, the Russian announcement leaves several issues in limbo, waiting for the “resignation” to the International Space Station to be presented in writing. However, this is a clear demonstration that Roscosmos plans for the future of its space program are very ambitious. In fact, it has already allied itself with China to install its own lunar station.
It will also be necessary to see if Borísov’s announcement affects the most recent agreements signed by Russia and the United States, even though the official assures that it does not. as collected APEarlier this month both countries pledged that Western astronauts could travel to the ISS on Russian rockets, and Russian cosmonauts on SpaceX rockets. Furthermore, they had agreed that there is always at least one Russian and one American in orbit to support the proper functioning of the International Space Station.