For more than two decades, the International Space Station (ISS) has served as a collaborative research ship for astronauts around the world. Scientific experiments performed on the permanently manned spacecraft are seen as integral to future exploration and have even provided the basis for discoveries here on Earth. More than a research laboratory, the ISS Program was considered a post-Cold War diplomatic triumph for its Russian and US partners, which operate the spacecraft alongside Canada, Europe and Japan.
But now, geopolitics threatens to jeopardize that work. Russia is considering launching its own orbital space station in 2025 as it discusses withdrawing from the ISS program to go it alone, reports AFP. The country’s space agency has begun work on the station’s first central module, according to a statement sent to Telegram by Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin. Moscow says its deliberations are based on the ISS era, but it is difficult to ignore the impact of recent events on the ground.
“When we make a decision, we will start negotiations with our partners on the forms and conditions of cooperation after 2024,” Roscosmos said. AFP in a statement.
Russia lost control of access to the ISS last year after SpaceX completed its first operational mission to NASA’s orbit laboratory. Vladimir Putin also warned that the US decision to launch a Space Force suggests that the White House considers the space a “military theater and intends to conduct operations there.” Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s criticism of Russia’s treatment of closed opposition leader Alexei Navalny – and growing fears of a military conflict in Ukraine – have further severed relations between the two sides.
Russia also has a history of space laboratories. He previously built Mir, a modular space station that has been in orbit for 15 years and is said to have worked with China on a planned moon research station.
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