Russia to Withdrawal from International Space Station Starting 2025, Create Own ISS

Russia announced its withdrawal from the International Space Station (ISS) project from January 2025 and set up its own ISS,  Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said during the course of a TV interview Sunday.

Currently, the ISS is a collaborative project between the U.S.’ NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos. The ISS sometimes hosts astronauts from other countries as well. In 2019-20, the ISS was hit by several issues including a crack and air-leak noticed in October 2020.

Roscosmos state corporation noted that by the end of 2024 the main units of the Russian segment of the ISS should have exhausted their resource. An in-camera meeting regarding the Russian space industry was held by President Vladimir Putin on April 12, Cosmonautics Day. During the event, the issue of creating a Russian national orbital station was raised.

Earlier, Vladimir Solovyov, cosmonaut No. 56, scientist and designer, specialist in the field of manned spacecraft flight control, spoke about the need for Russia to create its own station in space. According to him, after 2025, an avalanche-like failure of the elements of the Russian segment of the ISS is expected, which now costs 10-15 billion rubles a year to maintain.

In October 2020, design of a new orbital station was presented by Roscosmos. It consisted of five modules for different purposes: basic, target production, MTO warehouse, platform (slipway) for assembling, launching, receiving and servicing spacecraft, as well as a commercial for space tourists.

The Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences, after its report, recommended revising the terms of the ISS flight program and starting to develop a new concept for the development of Russian manned space exploration, "including the creation of a national manned infrastructure in near-earth orbit."