Russia’s participation in the maintenance of the International Space Station may continue beyond 2024, according to a statement by the head of human spaceflight at Roscosmos, Sergey Krikalev, on Monday. As is known, the international repercussions of the country’s military action against Ukraine and the resulting sanctions overshadowed Russia’s involvement. For this reason, the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, previously stated that the space station is likely to be abandoned after 2024.
The International Space Station is jointly built and operated by the United States, Russia, the European Union, Canada and Japan. The gigantic structure is nearing the end of its operational life, but the United States has said it will remain until 2030.
Krikalev’s words revealed that Russia is still considering building its own space station, but this program is still at a very early stage, and until a decision is made on how to proceed, they will remain on the ISS.
Krikalev’s restorative message, which also mentions cooperation between Apollo and Soyuz, arrived before a Russian cosmonaut traveled to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket for the first time. Since then, the Crew-5 spacecraft has successfully arrived and docked with the space station on Thursday, carrying Russia’s Anna Kickna, Japan’s Koichi Wakata, and American astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada.
Space research is one of the few areas where cooperation continues despite strained Russian-American relations.
(Phys.org)
