Russia exists ISS project to build its own ROSS space station

Russia has decided to pull out from the International Space Station project after 2024, Yuri Borisov, the chief of Roscosmos state corporation said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The main priority for Roscosmos now is to provide the Russian economy with required space services, such as navigation, communications, data transmission, meteorological and geodetic information, etc.

As for manned space exploration, Roscosmos will deal with the creation of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). This project is to replace the ISS for Russia.

Earlier in July, Roscosmos press service chief Dmitry Strugovets said that without Russia the ISS would last for no more than five years.

Cosmonaut Andrei Borisenko believes that Russia's decision to exit the ISS project is not going to lead to critical consequences. Russian cosmonauts will continue working under another domestic program.

"Russian cosmonauts will no longer be delivered to the ISS. They will work under a different program,” Borisenko told lenta.ru. "It goes about the creation of our own national orbital station. I think that any decision of this kind was made on thew basis of all aspects of life around us. The decision was made, and one shall assume that there was solid ground for it," he said.

However, not earlier than six months ago, former Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin assured that it was too early to write the ISS off.

Russia has been developing the National Space Station since the mid-2000s. It is believed that the new station will be called ROSS. It will not just replace the ISS, but will serve as a base for the Russian lunar program.

The United States also eyes on flights to the Moon. Astronauts from Europe, Japan, Great Britain and other countries are to take part in the Artemis program. Apparently, Russia will be working alone in this direction, Andrey Ionin, a corresponding member of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics believes.

"Any international project means a tight deadline. In any national project, the timeline will shift to the right. It transported that the station bears a name that excludes international cooperation. I would very much like the project to be initially established as an international one. It is up to the president to make such an announcement. May I be excused, but this is not a prerogative of the chief of Roscosmos or the vice prime minister,” Andrey Ionin said, The Kommersant wrote.

Reports about technical problems on board the International Space Station have become more frequent lately. Moreover, the service life of the station has been extended repeatedly. Foreign states have not abandoned the ISS project yet. NASA, for example, plans to lease its compartments to private companies.

By and large, the ISS will continue to operate. Cracks and holes in ISS modules are simply used as a convenient excuse. Experts believe that Russia's decision to pull out from the project comes as a wish to get rid of ties with the United States in space.