Kenneth Bowersox, head of the Manned Flight Program at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, stressed that both sides receive valuable scientific and technical data
WASHINGTON, February 15th. /tass/. The interaction of US and Russian specialists on the International Space Station (ISS) is developing positively, both sides are receiving valuable scientific and technical data. This was stated on Wednesday by Kenneth Bowersox, head of the manned flight program of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), speaking at a hearing in the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Speaking about the elimination of technical problems at the orbital complex, including in its Russian segment, he noted: "We are working very well with our Russian colleagues on these issues. They provide us with information. We are providing them with information to resolve these issues and to try to reduce the likelihood that this [malfunction] will occur in the future."
"We also get valuable information. It concerns how the Russian segment is aging. Its modules are older than many other modules on the station," Bowersox added. - We are getting information about how the space complex is aging in space. So we all get valuable data."
"Regarding the recent problems with the Progress and Soyuz spacecraft, as well as with the radiator from which there was a leak, we believe that the presence of space debris is a serious problem for all of us, including our Russian colleagues. So we are trying to figure it out," the NASA representative stressed.
Referring to Russia's participation in the ISS project, he noted that "the Russian partners have made commitments" to continue until 2028, and "the rest of the ISS partners are working until 2030, which will be the deadline for full use" of the station. After this period, the ISS will begin to be taken out of orbit. "We expect our Russian partners to carry out work to understand what they can do after 2028. They have some concerns about technical issues. They also have some concerns about the budget," he added.
According to Bowersox, one of the reasons that Russian specialists did not extend their participation in the ISS project beyond 2028 "is how their budget system works." "And we have really good technical relations with our Russian partners. We expect to find out if they are ready to stay with us until 2030. This is very important," said the head of NASA's manned flight program.
Russia's participation in the project
The head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said in November 2023 that the operation of the ISS would be extended as much as possible. Last April, Borisov reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Russian government had extended work on the ISS until 2028.
The ISS has been in orbit since November 20, 1998. It is multi-module and weighs about 435 tons, with docked ships the weight can reach up to 470 tons. The participants of this project are Russia, Canada, the USA, Japan and 10 member states of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Sweden, Switzerland).