Russia will leave the International Space Station after 2024 and will focus its efforts on creating its own orbiting station.
Yuri Borisov, who was appointed this month to lead the state space agency Roscosmos, said: “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made. I think that by that time we will start forming a Russian orbiting station.”
He also said that Russia will fulfil obligations made to its partner space agencies - including NASA - before leaving.
Advert
The space station is jointly run by the space agencies of Russia, the US, Europe, Japan and Canada - the other partners have said they hoped to keep it running until 2030, but Russia had been reluctant to make a commitment past 2024.
The decision to leave the station comes amid ongoing tensions between Russia and the West following the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
ISS has been continuously inhabited for over 20-years and is used to conduct scientific research in zero gravity and test out equipment for future space journeys.
Advert
It typically has a crew of seven, who spend months at a time aboard the station as it orbits about 250 miles from Earth.
ISS is divided into two main sections, one that is run by Russia and the other that is run by the rest of the space agencies.
As yet, it’s not been announced what will happen to the Russian section once the country leaves the ISS in 2024.
Back in March, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei left ISS alongside Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov in a Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft to return to Earth.
Vande Hei and Dubrov launched last April - months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Advert
When asked if there had been any tensions between the crew, Vande Hei said they had avoided conversations about Russia and Ukraine and admitted they ‘haven’t talked about that too much’.
He added: “I’m not sure we really want to go there.”
While Shkaplerov said: "People have problems on Earth. On orbit, we are one crew, and I think ISS is like a symbol of the friendship, cooperation (and) our flexible future of exploration of space.
“Thank you very much, my crew members. You are like my space brothers and space sister."
Advert
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Topics: International Space Station, NASA, Russia
Claire Reid