The announcement, while not unexpected, throws into question the future of the 24-year-old space station
MOSCOW — Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country's new space chief said Tuesday amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
NASA officials said they had yet to hear directly from their Russian counterparts on the matter. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson issued a statement saying that the agency was “committed to the safe operation” of the space station through 2030 and continues "to build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit.”
Cost may also be a factor: With Elon Musk’s SpaceX company now flying NASA astronauts to and from the space station, the Russian space agency lost a major source of income. For years, NASA had been paying tens of millions of dollars per seat for rides aboard Russian Soyuz rockets. It typically has a crew of seven, who spend months at a time aboard the station as it orbits about 260 miles above Earth. Three Russians, three Americans and one Italian are now on board.
Kelly said the design of the station would make it difficult but not impossible for the remaining nations to operate it if Russia were to withdraw. Bimm said that running the station after the Russians bail out "could be a nightmare depending on how hard Russia wanted to make it for NASA and its remaining partners.”
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