The Russian space agency (Roscosmos) recently revealed its plans to leave the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024. The day after, Roscosmos reportedly informed NASA that they would still be on the ISS until 2028.
A few days ago, Roscosmos Chief Yuri Borisov caused a stir after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reporting on the decision to leave the ISS after 2024.
But the information provided is not very clear, and Roscosmos also did not say when the exact date of Russia's departure from the ISS. Borisov only said Russia would leave the ISS to focus on building a new space station.
NASA officials also admitted that they had not received official information from Russia about the plan. However, it seems that Roscosmos officials have communicated with NASA and said that Russia will still stay on the ISS until 2028.
NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Mission Kathy Lueders said Roscosmos will remain an ISS partner while completing the construction of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).
"We haven't received any indication at any level that anything is going to change," Lueders said, as quoted by Reuters on Thursday (28/7/2022). Lueders added that NASA's relationship with Roscosmos is continuing as usual.
Roscosmos also uploaded an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, Flight Director for the Russian segment of the ISS. Solovyov said Russia would remain on the ISS until ROSS is operational and the new space station is expected to go into orbit in 2028.
"We, of course, need to continue operating the ISS until we create a more or less tangible backlog for ROSS. We have to take into account that if we stop manned flights for several years, it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved," said Solovyov.
NASA and Roscosmos are the two largest partners on the ISS, tasked with keeping the space station afloat in orbit. In addition to the United States and Russia, the ISS partnership also involves Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.
But strained relations between the United States and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine have made many question the future of the ISS. Moreover, the ISS is planned to be retired in 2024, but NASA is still waiting for an agreement from other partners to extend it until 2030.
If Russia does abandon the ISS by 2030, then NASA and other partners will have to rack their brains to keep the ISS operational. Despite having two parts controlled by the US and Russia, the ISS is designed in such a way that partner countries depend on each other.
NASA is in charge of controlling the position of the ISS in orbit, as well as providing electrical power to the entire station. Meanwhile, Russia provides propulsion or impetus to control the position and orientation of the ISS, while pushing the station not out of orbit.