After initially stating that it would leave the International Space Station partnership after 2024, Roscosmos has informed NASA that it plans to remain until at least 2028, according to Reuters. Roscosmos intends to remain involved with the ISS until a new Russian space station is operational, with a target date of 2028.
Roscosmos caused uproar yesterday when its newly appointed director, Yuri Borisov, informed Russian President Vladimir Putin that the ISS partnership would be terminated after 2024.
However, the statement was vague and did not specify when Roscosmos would leave after 2024, only stating that Russia hoped to shift its focus to a new space station called the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). Furthermore, one NASA official noted that the agency had not received "any official word" from Roscosmos. In contrast, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated in a statement that the agency had "not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners" on the ISS.
However, it appears that Roscosmos officials spoke with NASA on Tuesday in some manner, telling the US space agency that it intended to continue participating in the ISS until its own ROSS station was operational in 2028.
Kathy Lueders, head of NASA's human spaceflight program, spoke with Russian space officials on Tuesday following Borisov's announcement. "We're not getting any indication at any working level that anything's changed," Lueders told Reuters. She described the human spaceflight relationship between NASA and Roscosmos as "business as usual." she said.
However, due to the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, several of Russia's other space alliances have recently broken up or disappeared. For instance, Russian rocket engines are no longer sold to American businesses, and the European Spaceport in French Guiana no longer launches Russian-built Soyuz rockets.
And with this week's news, Borisov didn't exactly break new ground. Several times, his predecessor as chairman of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, threatened to pull Russia's participation from the ISS consortium unless sanctions imposed as a result of the invasion of Ukraine were lifted. (Those sanctions are still in place.)
Vladimir Solovyov, the flight director of the Russian segment of the ISS and the general designer of RSC Energia, the prime contractor for Russia's human spaceflight program believes that Russia would make a mistake if it abruptly left the International Space Station.
Solovyov stated in the Roscosmos interview, "We, of course, need to continue operating the ISS until we create a more or less tangible backlog for ROSS." "We must take into account that if we stop manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved," the Roscosmos article states.
