The new director of the Russian space agency, Youri Borissov, said Tuesday, July 26, that Russia will leave the international program “after 2024”. This decision is not a surprise, and the routing of men and refueling can be carried out thanks to the American vessels SpaceX.
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No break -in period for Youri Borissov, the brand new director of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Tuesday, July 26, only eleven days after his appointment to this position, his first official intervention had the effect of a small bomb: during an interview with Vladimir Putin, he indeed announced that Russia would withdraw of the International Space Station (ISS) “after 2024”. After this statement, NASA which, alongside European, Canadian and Japanese space agencies, Co-Get ISS with Roscosmos, said it had no official confirmation of this future Russian withdrawal. “We will undoubtedly fulfill all our obligations towards our partners” of the ISS, assured Youri Borissov, “but the decision to leave this station after 2024 was taken”.
This choice can a priori amaze because if the ISS, whose construction began in 1998, is aging, the idea which predominated in recent times consisted rather in negotiating its maintenance at 400 kilometers above our heads until ‘In 2030 and to descend it the following year. Nevertheless, for Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, director of research at the CNRS and specialist in space policies, the announcement of this withdrawal “is still not a news that upsets the world because it has been a long time since the Russians say they want Leave the ISS after 2024 “. Same evaluation for Xavier Pasco, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research: “We can probably not speak of a surprise. The ISS is an object that has entered its final phase. We can see that both are moving on to something else, especially the Americans with their Lunar Program Artemis. “
The current context, with the war in Ukraine and the Ban of Moscow that it has trained, is undoubtedly not a stranger at the time chosen to make this announcement. “It was said that the ISS was one of the last places where the Russians and the Americans could still speak, but the current situation ended up creating tensions in the station,” said Xavier Pasco. At the beginning of July, NASA rarely appreciated seeing its three Russian occupants, Oleg Artemiev, Denis Matveïev and Sergei Korsakov, deploy the flags of the self -proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lougansk. The beautiful idea of an orbital station sheltered from terrestrial political turmoil has undoubtedly lived.
Motivations less linked to immediate news also make it possible to illuminate this announcement. “Since, with SpaceX, the Americans have become independent again to send their crews to the ISS and no longer need to borrow the Soyuz vessels, the Russians have lost the money that these services brought in them, analyzes Isabelle Sourbès- Verger. Their contribution to the station will therefore cost them more. And in terms of political image, Russia has no interest in devoting to the ISS a part of its space budget, which is already modest. “
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