MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 The head of Russia\u2019s space agency said Friday that the country has not set a date for pulling out of the International Space Station program, noting that it would only do that after it puts its own space station in orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yuri Borisov, who was appointed this month to lead the Roscosmos state space corporation, told President Vladimir Putin this week that a decision was made for Russia to\u00a0leave the station after 2024\u00a0and to focus on building its own orbiting station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NASA and its partners hope to continue operating the 24-year-old International Space Station until 2030, and the Russian announcement threw that plan into doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking Friday in televised remarks, Borisov said Russia will start the process of leaving the station after 2024 but the exact timing would \u201cdepend on the International Space Station\u2019s condition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Russia won\u2019t pull out of the International Space Station until it puts its own space outpost into operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe termination of work on the International Space Station and the start of work on the Russian station undoubtedly should be synchronized,\u201d Borisov said, adding that the Russian pullout could take up to two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has started design work on the new station, and space officials haven\u2019t said when it could be launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Space Station, which has served as a symbol of post-Cold War international cooperation, is now one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Russia and the West amid the tensions over Moscow\u2019s military action in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Russian announcement fueled speculation it was part of Moscow\u2019s maneuvering to win relief from Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Borisov\u2019s predecessor as Roscosmos chief, Dmitry Rogozin, said last month that Moscow could take part in negotiations about a possible extension of the station\u2019s operations only if the U.S. lifted its sanctions against Russian space industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Borisov insisted his agency\u2019s decision wasn\u2019t related to politics. \u201cThere are no political aspects here, and I believe there shouldn\u2019t be any,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe International Space Station has enriched science with knowledge about the Earth and about the universe and brought us all together,\u201d Borisov said. \u201cSuch projects should stay away from politics. I\u2019m sorry that our joint space projects that are important for the entire humankind are getting a political tinge. It\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NASA officials said they had yet to hear directly from their Russian counterparts on the matter. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson issued a statement saying the agency was \u201ccommitted to the safe operation\u201d of the space station through 2030 and continues \u201cto build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 The head of Russia\u2019s space agency said Fr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1693,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions\/1693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}