Russia and the US have agreed to expand their agreement for joint flights to the International Space Station (ISS). In July and December, both sides signed two additional agreements to continue the cruise flights until 2025, said Thursday.
The aim is to “maintain the reliability of the operation of the ISS,” according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. This also ensures that there is at least one NASA astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut on the station.
The ISS, which has been orbiting the Earth since 1998, is one of the few areas where Russia and the US continue to cooperate, even after Russia’s offensive in Ukraine began in February 2022.
Russia plans its own space station
Their operation was originally planned until 2024, but the American space agency NASA does not want to decommission them until 2030. However, Roskosmos had already announced in July 2022 that it would withdraw from the project after 2024. Instead, Moscow is planning its own space station.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in October that the first module for the Russian space station would be launched into space in 2027. At the same time, he pledged to stick to current space goals despite recent setbacks – especially Russia’s moon program.
Source: Krone
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