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Yuri Borísov, the new director of Roscosmos (the Russian space agency), confirmed on July 26 Moscow’s plans to leave the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024. The official assured that his country will focus on the construction of its itself into orbit, which is expected to be ready in 2025.
“The decision to leave the (International Space) Station after 2024 is made.” This was announced by the director of the Russian agency, Roscosmos, Yuri Borísov, on July 26, during a press conference with President Vladimir Putin.
The official added that his country, which had renewed its participation for two years, will fulfill its obligations to ISS partners until then, but will then focus on building its own orbital station.
The Russian space platform would be ready by 2025, Roscosmos sources estimated last June.
The cost of the project amounts to 38.9 million dollars, according to the portal of Russian state purchases.
Breaking News: Russia said it would leave the International Space Station after 2024, marking a potential end to two decades of space cooperation with the UShttps://t.co/D6XFivcR5k
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 26, 2022
Since the Kremlin launched the war against Ukraine on February 24, there have been constant rumors that Moscow might abandon collaboration on this matter. Now Borissov, appointed to the post earlier this month, corroborates that guideline.
Despite the political and diplomatic clashes over Russia’s war in Ukraine, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Russian counterpart agreed in early July that Western astronauts will continue to travel to space in Russian rockets and cosmonauts in Moscow will use SpaceX ships starting this fall.
But the cooperation will not be extended again after 2024, as announced by Moscow, marking the end of two decades of space cooperation between the former Cold War rivals.
NASA prepares to operate the ISS without Russia
In the first days of the conflict on Ukrainian territory, Dmitri Rogozin, then head of Roscosmos, pointed out that the Russian ships that supply the International Space Station could be affected by Western economic sanctions against Moscow, which could cause the “splashdown”. or the landing of the ISS, which weighs 500 tons”.
“The Russian segment watches that the orbit of the station is corrected (an average of 11 times per year), also to avoid space debris,” Rogozin explained at the time, who publicly showed his support for the Russian troops participating in the invasion of the neighboring country.
Rogozin even warned that the resumption of negotiations on the extension of the useful life of the orbital platform would be possible only in case of the lifting of US sanctions against the space sector of his nation.
The United States prepares to find solutions. The announcement does not take Washington by surprise, since on March 1 NASA indicated that it was working to keep the station in orbit without the help of its Russian counterpart.
With AP and EFE
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