The International Space Station (ISS) has been serving as a collaborative research vessel for astronauts from around the world for over two decades. Scientific experiments conducted on the permanently manned spacecraft are considered an integral part of future exploration and have even provided the basis for breakthroughs here on earth. The ISS program was seen more as a research laboratory as a diplomatic triumph for the partners Russia and the US, which operate the spacecraft with Canada, Europe and Japan.
But now geopolitics is threatening to jeopardize the work. Russia is considering launching its own orbital space station in 2025, as it debates withdrawing from the ISS program to do so alone, reports the AFP. The country’s space agency has reportedly begun work on the station’s first core module, according to a statement shared by Telcos’ Dmitry Rogozin on Rosegmos. Moscow says the deliberations are based on the age of the ISS, but it is difficult to ignore the impact of recent events on the ground.
“When we make a decision, we will negotiate with our partners on forms and conditions of cooperation after 2024,” Roscosmos said. AFP in a statement.
Russia lost control of access to the ISS last year after SpaceX conducted its first operational mission to the NASA orbit. Vladimir Putin also warned that the US decision to launch a space force suggested that the White House consider the space a “military theater and plan to conduct operations there.” Meanwhile, criticism from the Biden government over Russia’s treatment of prisoner opposition leader Alexei Navalny – and growing fears of a military conflict in Ukraine – have further broken ties between the two parties.
Russia also has a history of operating space laboratories. It previously built the Mir, a modular space station that has been in orbit for 15 years and is reportedly working with China on a planned research station on the Moon.
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