Russia on Tuesday (July 26) announced that it will withdraw from International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. The newly-appointed chief of Moscow’s space agency told President Vladimir Putin that Russia has decided to quit ISS. As per news agencies, he also presented plans for the new station.
Yury Borisov, who was appointed Roscosmos chief in mid-July, said “As you know, we operate in international cooperation at the International Space Station. Without a doubt, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners.”
He added, “But the decision to withdraw from the station after 2024 has been taken. I think that by this time we will start to form a Russian orbital station.”
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Kremlin released Putin’s comments as he said, “Good.”
Meanwhile, a senior NASA official said that the United States hasn’t received “any official word” from Russia. During a conference, Robyn Gatens, the director of the ISS for NASA said: “We haven’t received any official word from the partner as to the news today.”
On being asked whether she wanted the US-Russia space relationship to end, Gatens replied: “No, absolutely not.”
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Russia and ISS – History
For the unversed, the ISS is set to be retired after 2024. But NASA has said that it can operate until 2030.
It appeared to be a groundbreaking move when the ISS was launched in 1998 and was hoped that it will be a stepping stone in the US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.
But the recent move by Russia states otherwise. The announcement came amid the West and Russia being at odds over Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.
In order to isolate Russia, the West imposed multiple economic sanctions but space exploration was one of the few areas where cooperation between Moscow and Washington and its allies had not been wrecked—until now.
As quoted by the news agency AFP, some space experts said the departure from the ISS would seriously affect the country’s space sector. It will also act as a major blow to the programme of manned flights.
Russia’s own space station?
Borisov suggested that Russia “will start to form a Russian orbital station”. But an independent space analyst Vitaly Yegorov said it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years, especially in the current circumstances.
Yegorov told AFP that “neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station.”
He added that creating a full-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding”.
Yegorov said Russia’s departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its programme of manned flights “for several years” or even “indefinitely.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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