Russia, US agree to extend ISS cooperation until 2028

AFP | Moscow

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The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said yesterday that he had agreed with his NASA counterpart during talks in the US to extend the International Space Station’s (ISS) operation until 2028.

Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.

Roscosmos said earlier this week that its chief, Dmitry Bakanov, arrived in the US for talks with NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy, the first such meeting since 2018.

Dialogue

“The dialogue went well. We agreed that we will operate the ISS until 2028... And we will work on the issue of de-orbiting it until 2030,” Bakanov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

Bakanov was also due to meet the NASA’s Crew-11 mission team, including Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, ahead of the launch aboard the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The ISS was set up by Russia, the US, Europe and Japan and assembly was started in 1998.

Work

It was meant to keep working until 2024, but the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has said it could keep going until 2030.

As part of the slew of sanctions imposed on Russia since its assault on Ukraine, many Western countries ceased partnerships with Roscosmos.

Russia’s space programme, which for decades has been a source of pride for the country, has been suffering for years from a chronic lack of funding and corruption scandals.