The cosmonauts will abandon the International Space Station starting from 2024. This was announced by Roscosmos on Telegram.
Not even the International Space Station – ISS is immune to geopolitical tensions. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos , announced on Telegram that it intends to cease all participation in the international project starting from 2024.
In short, in less than two years the cosmonauts will leave the ISS, probably forever. Russia now works on a national orbital station .
Divorce had been in the air for some time, but the decision to stop participating in the project would have been made official only recently, after a meeting between Yury Borisov, N.1 of Roscosmos, the leaders of the space agency, and therefore the president Vladimir Putin .
It’s not exactly a bolt from the blue. Several statements made in the recent past had highlighted the growing intolerance of the Russians, exacerbated by the sanctions approved after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. “We will notify our partners with at least one year’s notice,” the agency said recently. And, at least on this, they kept their word.
But even without the Russians, the future of the International Space Station is still uncertain. The ‘expiration date’ is set for 2028, then the ISS will be dismantled. NASA does not seem interested in renewing the project, which will likely be replaced by other similar but privately designed outposts in Space. A sample? Blue Origin ‘s Orbital Reef , company of Jeff Bezos.
