2023-04-28 17:56:50
Russia will stay on the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2028. This is what NASA says in a statement, in which it says that Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has confirmed its continued presence until that time. anus. In the end it seems that the march announced by his former boss, the always controversial Dimitri Rogozin, who stated that Russia would leave the facilities at some point after 2024, will not be as immediate as it seemed.
Other ISS partners, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), Canada or the Japanese space agency JAXA, have signed up until 2030, at which time NASA plans to end scientific experiments and prepare the facilities for decommissioning and relocation. final disintegration in our atmosphere in early 2031, when its remains end up at Point Nemo, the area known as the South Pacific spacecraft graveyard.
This point is located between New Zealand and the coast of Chile, about 2,700 kilometers from the nearest piece of land. closest, would be the target point for falling debris. There it will rest alongside hundreds of shipwrecks, including the Russian MIR space station.
Rogozin’s threats
It all started last year shortly after the start of Ukraine’s invasion of Russia. The then director of Roscosmos, Dimitri Rogozin, began to use Twitter as his own battleground: “If they block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled orbit and crash into the United States or… Europe? », He affirmed in a clear provocation towards the rest of the ISS partners.
Also, faced with the threat of possible fines, he tweeted: “The populations of other countries, especially those led by the ‘war dogs’ (Western countries) should think about the price of sanctions against Roscosmos”, while describing it as “crazy” to those who imposed these punitive measures.
He even went so far as to suggest leaving an abandoned NASA astronaut on the space station just as SpaceX’s Crew Dragons began operating. Elon Musk’s spacecraft, now used by NASA astronauts and commercial crews, became an alternative means of space transportation to the Soyuz, to date the only vehicle that transported crews to the ISS.
Finally, Russian President Vladimir Putin ousted Rogozin in July last year, who became the leader of a team of war advisers. The former director of Roscosmos was injured during a Ukrainian bombardment of a hotel in Donetsk, the city where he lived.
His successor as head of the Russian space agency, Yuri Borisov, has had a lower profile than Rogozin, despite the fact that he has had to face a delicate crisis due to the discovery of two holes in two of his ships docked on the ISS. . In fact, he has promoted agreements with NASA whereby Roscosmos exchanges seats on its Soyuz ships – bound for the ISS – with the US space agency and SpaceX, to ensure that Russian astronauts are always on board in all transports. This new signature to remain on the ISS until 2028 adds another space cooperation agreement.
Roscosmos also has its own plans: Putin himself announced this month his intention to return to the Moon and even beyond. At the moment, it seems that he is still collaborating with China to create a lunar station that orbits our satellite, a previous step to bring people back to the surface of our neighbor. It seems that Russia, at least in space, is willing to cooperate.
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