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Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbital station, the new head of Russia’s state space agency said on Tuesday, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine. .
Yuri Borisov, appointed this month to head the Roscosmos agency, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia would fulfill its obligations to its partners before the withdrawal.
“We have already made the decision to leave the station after 2024”, said Borisov. “I think by that time we will start building a Russian orbital station,” he added.
Mr Borisov’s statement reaffirmed earlier statements by Russian space officials about Moscow’s intention to leave the space station after 2024, when current international agreements to operate it expire.
NASA and other international partners hope to keep the space station operational until 2030, while the Russians have been reluctant to commit beyond 2024.
NASA has yet to comment on this announcement.
The space station is jointly managed by the space agencies of Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada. The first part was placed into orbit in 1998, and the station has had a crew on board continuously for almost 22 years. It is used for scientific research in zero gravity and to test equipment for future space travel.
The International Space Station typically has a crew of seven, who spend several months aboard while it orbits about 400 kilometers from Earth. Three Russians, three Americans and an Italian are now on board.
The complex, which is as long as a football field, consists of two main sections, one run by Russia, the other by the United States and other countries. It is not clear what will happen to the Russian part of the space station after Moscow withdraws.
The Russian announcement is expected to fuel speculation that it is part of Moscow’s maneuvers to secure an easing of Western sanctions linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr. Borisov’s predecessor, Dmitry Rogozin, said last month that Moscow could participate in negotiations on a possible extension of the station’s operations only if the United States lifted its sanctions against the Russian space industry.
After Elon Musk’s company SpaceX began sending NASA astronauts to the space station, the Russian Space Agency lost a major source of revenue. For years, NASA paid tens of millions of dollars to send an astronaut to the International Space Station on Russian space shuttles.
Despite tensions over Ukraine, NASA and Roscosmos reached an agreement earlier this month to continue sending American astronauts into space on Russian spacecraft and sending Russian astronauts to the space station on SpaceX spacecraft starting in the fall. But space flights will not involve any exchange of money.
According to NASA and Russian officials, the agreement ensures the presence of at least one American and one Russian astronaut to ensure the smooth operation of the two sectors of the space station.
Moscow and Washington cooperated in space even at the height of the Cold War, when the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft docked in orbit in 1975 on the first international manned space mission, helping to improve relations between the United States and Soviet Union.
NASA has been working with American companies to create their own private space stations to eventually replace the International Space Station. NASA hopes these commercial space stations will begin operating by the end of this decade./VOA
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