The International Space Station will continue to operate until 2030. Roscosmos and NASA have agreed to extend the joint operation of the ISS. This was announced by the head of the state corporation, Dmitry Bakanov. He spoke at a press conference after the docking of the crewed spacecraft "Soyuz MS-29" with the ISS.
Another part of the agreements concerns future orbital stations. After the ISS ceases operations, Russia and the US plan to develop their own national projects: a Russian orbital station and an American station. To ensure that these systems can interact if necessary in the future, the parties have agreed to exchange technical information.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman clarified that this involves not only general consultations but also possible common standards.
The negotiations took place against the backdrop of a new crewed mission to the ISS. The "Soyuz-2.1a" rocket with the "Soyuz MS-29" spacecraft launched on July 14 at 17:48 Moscow time, and at 20:52 Moscow time, the spacecraft docked with the station. Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, as well as NASA astronaut Anil Menon, arrived in orbit. They are scheduled to spend 261 days on the station. The Russian program includes 38 experiments and two spacewalks.
After the ISS is decommissioned, there are no plans to keep the station in orbit or dismantle it. Various options were considered – from returning elements to Earth and moving it to a higher orbit to a controlled deorbit. As a result, the ISS will be scuttled in a remote area of the ocean, which should reduce risks to people on Earth.
The Russian Federation is already preparing its own Russian Orbital Station. Its deployment was planned to begin with the launch of a science and power module, and the station's core should consist of four modules: a science and power module, a universal nodal module, an airlock module, and a base module. The second stage involved adding two more modules.