Russia calls ageing International Space Station ‘dangerous’ as it plans successor, courts China for moon mission

Name: Russia will pull out of International Space Station by 2024 to focus on its own orbiting outpost
Uploaded: 2022-09-01T11:04:06.000Z
Duration: 3 min
Description: Russia will pull out of International Space Station by 2024 to focus on its own orbiting outpost

Russia said the International Space Station (ISS) is dangerous and unfit for purpose, and will quit using it after 2024 to launch its own station

Moscow is now eyeing China and other ‘friendly countries’ to cooperate with and pool efforts to explore the moon and deep space

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The International Space Station (ISS) is dangerous and unfit for purpose, Russia’s space chief said on Thursday, as Moscow pushes ahead with plans to quit the project and launch its own station. Photo: NASA/Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters/File

Reuters

Published: 7:04pm, 1 Sep 2022Updated: 10:35pm, 1 Sep 2022

The International Space Station (ISS) is dangerous and unfit for purpose, Russia’s space chief said on Thursday, as Moscow pushes ahead with plans to quit the project and launch its own station.

Yuri Borisov, head of the Roscosmos agency, said mass equipment failures and ageing parts were endangering crew safety on the 24-year-old station.

The ISS had been a rare area of cooperation between the United States and Russia even as diplomatic ties worsened.

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Russia will pull out of International Space Station by 2024 to focus on its own orbiting outpost

But since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and subjected to a barrage of Western sanctions, it has become more intent on leaving and launching its own space station sometime after 2024.

“Technically, the ISS has exceeded all its warranty periods. This is dangerous,” Borisov said. “An avalanche-like process of equipment failure is beginning, cracks are appearing.”

He said Russia’s station would orbit Earth around the poles, enabling it to look down on far more of Russia’s vast territory and gather new data on cosmic radiation.

The ISS was launched in 1998 and has been occupied continuously since November 2000 under an American/Russian-led partnership that also includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries. The US space agency Nasa wants to keep it functioning until 2030.