No Cuts Expected For Russia's ISS Research Program Until Launch Of New Station - Rogozin

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2021) Russia does not plan to cut the ongoing research program on the International Space Station (ISS) before a new national orbital station is developed, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, said on Monday.

On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov announced Russia's plans to exit the ISS initiative in 2025. According to Roscosmos, the partners agreed to set the deadline of their work on the station for 2024 as the ISS modules have reached the end of their service life. The final decision about the project's future will be made after the set date based on the modules' technical condition and the development of the next-generation national orbital station, Roscosmos stated.

"The point is simple: pauses in manned space exploration are fatal. Until our national station starts properly operating (even at a minimum capacity), we should not cut the experimental program in the ISS orbit. We should not get off the course despite the challenges we face with the MLM [Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka]. The module must be launched and it will be useful," Rogozin wrote on Facebook in response to the question whether launching a new ISS module is viable ahead of its upcoming decommissioning.

The launch of the module is reportedly planned for July 15.

The ISS is joint initiative between Russia, Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan.