Moscow on Tuesday said that it was leaving the International Space Station (ISS) “after 2024” amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts said could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights.
The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.
Space experts said Russia’s departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the nation’s space sector and deal a significant blow to its program of crewed flights, a major source of Russian pride.
Photo: AFP / NASA
“Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.
“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov said, calling it the domestic space program’s main “priority.”
“Good,” Putin replied.
The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although NASA says it can remain operational until at least 2030.
The space station was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their space race during the Cold War.
The US said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.
“It’s an unfortunate development given the critical scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration our space agencies have had over the years,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the agency “has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners, though we are continuing to build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit.”
Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the US and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.
Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods, and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country’s economy in the long term.
Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily sanctioned country.
“If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly,” Lukashevich said. “At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics.”
Pointing to Russia’s growing scientific and technological isolation, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.
“It will be archaic, like an old woman’s flat, with a push-button telephone and a record player,” he said.
Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.
“Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station,” Yegorov said.
He added that creating a fully-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding.”
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
RSS