Roscosmos chief informs partners of space station’s life extension to 2028

Roscosmos Head Yury Borisov has sent out letters to the space agency chiefs from the partner countries to inform them of Russia’s decision to extend the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) to 2028, the Roscosmos press office reported on Tuesday.

"Today State Space Corporation Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov has informed the heads of the space agencies from the partner countries under the project of the International Space Station that the Russian government has approved the extension of Russia’s participation in the project to 2028," the press office said in a statement.

In particular, the letters were sent to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Head Bill Nelson, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President Lisa Campbell and Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Keiko Nagaoka.

"The ISS program is the largest and the most successful international space project and I am glad that such a unique laboratory will continue its operation and will contribute to implementing humankind’s most audacious plans of space exploration," the press office quoted the Roscosmos chief as saying.

Roscosmos Chief Borisov told TASS in November last year that the term of Russia’s participation in the ISS project would depend on the technical condition of the Russian segment, the timeframe of deploying the new Russian Orbital Station (ROS), the commencement of space flights to the national orbiter and some other factors.

In late February 2023, the Roscosmos scientific-technical council held a meeting attended by the leadership of the space corporation, its subsidiaries and organizations of the Russian Academy of Sciences acting as contractors under the ISS Russian segment project. Following the results of the meeting, the scientific-technical council approved the decision on extending the service life of the orbital outpost’s Russian segment to 2028 and began preparing relevant documents for the government.

On April 12 this year, Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the government had made a decision to extend the operation of the ISS Russian segment to 2028.