Space station ISS: Russia is open to an extension until 2030

The International Space Station ISS is no longer the newest, but it still provides important services in the antechamber of the earth. The space station managed by NASA, ESA and the Russian Roskosmos could remain active for longer, and Russia can now also imagine staying.

At the beginning of last year, the Russian space agency caused a shock to fans of the International Space Station (ISS): Moscow announced that it would leave what is currently the largest space station known to mankind to build and operate its own. But apparently these plans are being refrained from.

Extension to 2030 under discussion

Because like the Russian news agency TASS reported, NASA and Roskosmos have started talks to extend the joint operation of the space station until 2030. This was confirmed by Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency. “Talks with NASA about extending the operation of the ISS to 2030 are ongoing,” said Rogozin.

However, there have already been concrete results, because the two sides, NASA and Roskosmos, have agreed to extend the technical support of the Zarya module until 2024. The USA announced at the end of last year that it would send US astronauts to the ISS until at least 2030.

Russia wanted to devote itself to building its own Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), which should go into operation in five to six years – at least that was the original plan. One can certainly speculate here, however, that Russia alone cannot afford its own space station. Because although there have been repeated breakdowns on the ISS recently, the construction of a completely new station in space would certainly be extremely expensive.