Putin is Pulling Out – International Alliance Crumbles!
(UnitedVoice.com) – In 2000, the first full-time resident of the International Space Station (ISS) landed at the lab. For nearly 22 years, Russia cooperated with the US, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency to perform experiments in orbit. That cooperation is coming to an end.
On Tuesday, July 26, The New York Times reported Yuri Borisov, the man appointed to run Russia’s space program, said the country would pull out of the ISS after 2024. He told President Vladimir Putin the agency would turn its attention toward building its own orbiting station. The embattled leader responded, “Good.”
The announcement immediately left some concerned the country’s departure would accelerate the end of the ISS, which NASA has spent $100 billion on over the last two decades. Yet, just one day after the announcement, other reports indicated the end of the cooperation agreement might not happen so soon.
Russian space officials have informed U.S. counterparts that Moscow would like to keep flying its cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station until their own orbital outpost is built and operational, a senior NASA official told Reuters https://t.co/AY6Tu0bv7B pic.twitter.com/LaBu0WJwQN
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2022
Now, the Kremlin has decided to keep astronauts aboard the ISS until its own space station is complete. That could take at least six years. Kathy Lueders, a NASA chief, told reporters Russians reached out to the agency to inform it of the change after Borisov’s announcement on Tuesday.
Although the Russians are moving back the departure date, it will happen eventually. What consequences the decision will have on the ISS remain to be seen.
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