Written by Samah Labib
Saturday, April 29, 2023 10:00 AM
Russia agreed to support continued operations International Space Station Until 2028, while other countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada and the participating countries of the European Space Agency, have committed themselves until 2030, according to what NASA announced.
That means, barring a major setback, the International Space Station will host crews until the decommissioning process, which is currently set for 2031, according to theverge report.
This comes after the head of the Russian Space Agency suggested last year that his country would stop sending astronauts to the orbital site “after 2024”.
Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov made the remark in July during a period of heightened tension between the United States and Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine five months ago.
“The International Space Station is an amazing partnership with a common goal to advance science and exploration,” said Robin Gatins of NASA. “Extending our time aboard this amazing platform allows us to reap the rewards of more than two decades of experimentation and technology demonstrations, as well as continue to make the biggest discovery yet to come.”
The NASA announcement follows remarks made by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during an event in Ottawa to highlight next year’s Artemis II moon mission involving four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen.
Nelson told Reuters that while “we are completely at odds with President Putin’s aggression” in Ukraine, cooperation aboard the space station “continues in a very professional way between cosmonauts and cosmonauts without a hitch, and I expect that to continue all the way into the end of the decade when we get out.” from the orbit of the space station.
Besides being good news for international cooperation, the announcement is also good for ISS operations because it paves the way for continued use of Russia’s Soyuz flight system to send crew and cargo to the ISS, without which the station would have to rely solely on SpaceX for such missions.
Construction on the International Space Station began in 1998 and orbiting crews began staying there in 2000. So far, the facility, which orbits 250 miles above Earth, has been visited by 266 personnel from 20 countries.
During stays that typically last about six months, crew members use unique microgravity conditions to conduct science experiments across multiple research disciplines, including Earth and space sciences, biology, human physiology, physical sciences, and technical demonstrations.
But the station is starting to show its age and is due to go out of business in about eight years.
However, private companies plan to build more modern space stations for international crews to live and work in low Earth orbit.
