Russia withdrew from the International Space Station in 2025, the head of its space program said Wednesday in a move that would break one of the most prominent and long-standing areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
The US and Russia jointly launched the ISS in 1998 as an important step in competing with each other for the Cold War opponents who had spent more than four decades for extraterrestrial supremacy.
The decision to extend the ISS, which orbits 420 km above the earth, could also hamper cooperation between Russia and the European Space Agency. Since Russia and the US launched the original segments of the ISS, the ESA and space agencies of Japan and Canada have provided modules that have enlarged the station and astronauts to man it.
While their cooperation has rapidly survived terrestrial relations between Russia and the West over the past decade, a number of clashes have occurred with the US in recent years over their competitive space activities. Russia’s decision to abandon the ISS within four years also comes because Moscow would rather look to China as a partner for its future spatial ambitions.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said that if he abandoned his division of the ISS, Moscow would be able to launch its own space station by 2030.
“We are starting negotiations with our Nasa partners, we are formalizing it now,” Rogozin told reporters. “This does not mean that the station will be scrapped immediately after 2025 and dumped into the ocean. We will simply hand over the responsibility for our segment to the partners.”
A listed picture of Thomas Pesquet. The French astronaut will take part in a mission to the International Space Station via Getty Images © AFP
This statement comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the western capitals. Last week, the US imposed a series of new sanctions on Russia over alleged interference in the election and cyberattacks, while European powers condemned Moscow for imprisoning opposition activist Alexei Navalny and Russia’s large-scale military build-up near the border with Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech last week celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin called for Russia ‘to properly maintain its status as one of the leading spaces. . . power ”.
Rogozin said on Wednesday that Roscosmos was waiting for Putin’s nod to begin work on a Russia-only space station.
“If we manage to turn it around in 2030, in line with our plans, it would be a huge breakthrough,” he said in comments published by state news agencies.
The news of the planned withdrawal from the ISS comes after Russia signed a memorandum with China to jointly build a base on the moon. Russia had earlier rejected an offer from the United States for Roscosmos to join a Nasa-led project to build a similar lunar base.