Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station in 2025, the head of its space program said Wednesday, in a move that would sever 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 in what was seen as an important step to re-establish ties between the Cold War opponents who had battled each other for alien supremacy for more than four decades.
The decision to withdraw from the ISS, orbiting 420 km above Earth, could also jeopardize cooperation between Russia and the European Space Agency. Since Russia and the US launched the original parts 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 partnership has survived the rapidly souring Earth relations between Russia and the West over the past decade, there have been a number of clashes with the US over their competing space activities in recent years. Russia’s decision to leave the ISS within four years is also because Moscow is instead looking to China as a partner for its future space ambitions.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said leaving his part of the ISS would allow Moscow to launch its own space station by 2030.
“We are starting negotiations with our NASA partners, we are now formalizing them,” Rogozin told reporters. “It does not mean that the station will be demolished and dumped into the ocean after 2025. We simply hand over responsibility for our segment to the partners.”
A framed photograph of Thomas Pesquet. The French astronaut goes on a mission to the International Space Station via Getty Images
That statement comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the western capitals. Last week, the US imposed a slew of new sanctions on Russia for alleged election interference and cyberattacks, while European powers condemned Moscow for the imprisonment of opposition activist Alexei Navalny and Russia’s massive military buildup close to the Ukraine border.
Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, in a speech last week on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first-ever manned space flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, called on Russia to “properly maintain its status as one of the leading spacecraft. . . authorizations “.
Rogozin said on Wednesday that Roscosmos was waiting for Putin’s nod to begin work on a space station that’s only in Russia.
“If we manage to get around it by 2030, in line with our plans, it would be a huge breakthrough,” he said in comments from state news agencies.
The news of the proposed withdrawal from the ISS comes after Russia signed a memorandum with China to jointly build a base on or in orbit of the moon. Russia had previously turned down a US offer for Roscosmos to participate in a NASA-led project to build a similar lunar base.