Moscow. April 12. INTERFAX-The Russian leadership has approved the decision to create an independent Russian space station, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported.
"The project to create an alternative for the ISS was approved on Monday by the President of the country at a closed meeting on the development of the space industry, which Vladimir Putin conducted from Engels," the newspaper reports, citing a knowledgeable source.
"It is assumed that the construction of the new ROSS station will begin in the near future, in order to avoid a large time gap between the preservation of our segment on the ISS and the appearance of a new working area in orbit. The estimated date of conservation of the old segment of the ISS is 2025, " the publication says.
As noted in the publication, the decision is dictated by the deterioration of a number of modules of the Russian segment.
On April 5, the flight manager of the Russian segment of the ISS, Vladimir Solovyov, said that the ISS could be extended to the 2030s.
"Next, we plan to think about the completion of the ISS, although until 2030, maybe a little more, we plan to operate it with a smooth completion of the program," Solovyov said.
In October 2020, Solovyov said that the corporation's specialists predict an "avalanche-like failure of numerous elements on board the ISS" after 2025. According to him, due to the increased costs, experts consider it necessary to "review the terms of further participation in the program and focus on the implementation of the programs of the orbital stations."
The Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences, after its report, recommended reviewing the timing of the ISS flight program and starting to develop a new concept for the development of Russian manned cosmonautics, "including the creation of a national manned infrastructure in near-Earth orbit."
The ISS expires in 2024. Earlier, it was repeatedly reported about the possible extension of the station's operation until 2030.
On November 26, last year, Roscosmos reported that in early 2021, it is planned to begin consultations with NASA and other partners on the future of the station. On December 28, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the fate of the ISS will be determined "in the first quarter of next year."
