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

The new head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on July 26, 2022, that the space agency will cease operations on the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2024. The move will end decades of Russia’s post-Cold War cooperation with the United States. Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said Moscow plans to build its own orbital station instead. The announcement took the United States and other ISS partners by surprise. US space agency Nasa had previously agreed to run the ISS until 2030 before the station would be taken out of orbit by around January 2031 by allowing it to burn up upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.