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International Space Station could operate until 2028 — ex-head of Energia

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin earlier said Moscow sees no commercial reasons for participating in the international station’s project after 2020

© EPA/NASA/HANDOUT

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The International Space Station (ISS) has a service life allowing operations until 2028, the former head of Russia’s Energia Space Corporation, Vitaly Lopota, told journalists on Monday.

Read also

NASA mulls timetable for ISS scientific program with Russia

“The program of using the ISS has been agreed up to 2020, and now the issue of using it until 2024 is being discussed, and the time limit for using the station will be until 2028, if political events allow (it),” Lopota said.

The US portion of the station has been already built, while the Russian segment should comprise two other modules — a multifunctional laboratory module and a science-power module, he said.

The launch of the multifunctional module is due in 2017, Lopota said. The second module is to be sent to space in 2018-2019 as planned earlier. Both modules will not be added to the ISS until Russia’s space agency Roscosmos announces the plans for using the station after 2020.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of defense and space sectors, earlier said Moscow sees no commercial reasons for participating in the international station’s project after 2020.

Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko said the new modules could be used during the construction of a new Russian orbital station, which could be launched already in 2017, according to media reports.

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