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Russian, US space chiefs to discuss future of International Space Station

Russia plans to send a new Multipurpose Laboratory Module to the ISS in late 2019

NEW DELHI, October 5. /TASS/.

Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation (Roscosmos) Dmitry Rogozin will meet with NASA Administrator James Bridenstine at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 10 to discuss the future of the International Space Station (ISS).

"We will hold talks with Bridenstine at Baikonur on October 10. We will discuss the future of the ISS," he told reporters.

Rogozin noted that Russia plans to send a new Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) to the ISS in late 2019, adding that work to check its systems has basically been completed. It will be transported to Baikonur in January 2019.

He added that the Science and Power Module (NEM) for the ISS would be ready in 2022. "If the ISS wraps up its work in 2024, there won’t be any point in sending the Science and Power Module [there], because its operation time is 15 years. So, as soon as we receive confirmation from the Americans that they are ready to work aboard the ISS after 2024, it will be necessary to send the module to the ISS. If not, it will be the first part of the future Russian national station," Rogozin explained.

According to the Russian space agency chief, today mutual dependence exists between the Russians and the Americans aboard the ISS. Though the Americans depend on the Russian life support system, the ISS gets half of its power from the American side.