Russia is ready to start building its own space station with the aim of
launching it into orbit by 2030 if President Vladimir Putin gives the
go-ahead, the head of its Roscosmos space agency said on Wednesday.
The project would mark a new chapter for Russian space exploration and an
end to more than two decades of close cooperation with the United States
aboard the ageing International Space Station (ISS).
"If in 2030, in accordance with our plans, we can put it into orbit, it will
be a colossal breakthrough," Interfax news agency quoted Roscosmos chief
Dmitry Rogozin as saying. "The will is there to take a new step in world
manned space exploration."
Russian cosmonauts have worked with counterparts from the United States and
16 other countries about the ISS since 1998 - one of the closest fields of
cooperation between Moscow and Washington, whose relations are currently in
deep crisis over human rights, cyberattacks and a range of other issues.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Russian TV at the weekend that
Moscow would give notice to its partners that it would leave the ISS project
from 2025.
Rogozin said the Russian station, unlike the ISS, would most likely not be
permanently crewed because its orbit path would expose it to higher
radiation.
But cosmonauts would visit it and it would also use artificial intelligence
and robots.
He said Russia was ready to consider allowing foreign crews to visit, "but
the station must be national... If you want to do well, do it yourself."
Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying that Russia planned to spend up
to $6 billion to get the project launched.
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