The Russian space agency Roscosmos has just announced that it will collaborate with NASA to build a new orbiting space station to replace the International Space Station (ISS), which will end its mission in 2024.
Interfax news agency quoted Igor Komarov, head of the Russian space agency, as saying that “Roscosmos together with NASA will work on the programme of a future orbital station. We agreed that the group of countries taking part in the ISS project will work on the future project of a new orbital station.”
Komarov was addressing reporters at the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan, shortly after the launch of the Soyuz rocket taking the one-year crew to the ISS. He was accompanied by NASA’s chief administrator Charles Bolden. He added that the new space station might include collaboration with other countries not currently involved with the ISS.
The future of the ISS and U.S. – Russian collaboration in space have both been in question recently. Russia had previously announced that it would build a replacement space station alone; then that it would continue to use the ISS until 2024. And NASA is planning to use commercial space flights to carry crew members to the ISS, eliminating its dependence on Russian spacecraft.
While the ISS has been shielded from deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Russia, the latest round of tensions threatened to derail future collaboration in space between the two countries. Today’s announcement comes a day after three crew members joined those already on board the ISS to begin Expedition 43. Expedition 43 includes the one-year crew – cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and astronaut Scott Kelly.
The one-year mission is regarded as preparation for long-duration manned spaceflight to Mars and beyond. International cooperation is also considered necessary for future space exploration, since no country has the resources or know-how to go it alone.
Perhaps putting things in perspective is this quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “Man had to free himself from Earth to perceive both its diminutive place in a solar system, and its inestimable value as a life fostering planet.”
