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Roscosmos is more interested in creating a national orbital station, says CEO

Rogozin said that current negotiations with NASA on the future of the ISS were "shallow"

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

KHIMKI /Moscow Region/, March 17. /TASS/. Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos is more interested in creating a new Russian orbital station than an international one, the corporation’s CEO Dmitry Rogozin told the media on Wednesday.

"We are rather oriented towards a national station," Rogozin said, adding that Russian cosmonauts would then be able to feel they are totally in command on board the Earth’s orbiter.

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A fundamental decision on a new station would be made by the end of this year, he said.

Rogozin said that current negotiations with NASA on the future of the ISS were "shallow". He speculated that ISS’s life cycle would be repeatedly prolonged not by several years, but by one year. Also, he said it might be possible to extend the service life not of the whole station, but of its individual modules.

"On the sidelines of the April 9 launch we plan to hold technical consultations with NASA," Rogozin said, adding there was a possibility of configuring the Lunar orbital platform Gateway for its possible docking with Russia’s new generation spacecraft Oryol.

"On the whole, I am looking forward to full-scale talks when NASA’s new chief takes over. Possibly in May. We may have a meeting for a serious discussion then. So far we have been holding talks with acting officials," Rogozin said.

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The report details the accident that occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in 2011 due to an earthquake and tsunami, which led to the release of radioactive contamination

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Israel destroys no more than 20% of Hamas's fighting capacity — top political official

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Attempts are made to turn Moldova into ‘second Ukraine’, Lavrov warns

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US stops hiding true purpose of sanctions on Moscow, Russian envoy says

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Ukrainian forces refuse to obey Commander-in-Chief Syrsky — CIA ex-analyst

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Mohamed Toumba noted that the training of troops could help in the fight against terrorism

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Ukrainian army strikes own surrendering soldiers — POW

Andrey Babenko said that after a crash course in Britain he had been sent to the frontline near Liman

Russia’s top brass reports destroying US-made Hawk air defense system in Ukraine operation

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Ukraine exhausted, needs constant money flow from outside — defense official

Apty Alaudinov added that if the Ukrainian army received long-range weapons, it might try to attack Russia's civilian infrastructure due to its powerlessness on the front

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Russian tourists flock to North Korea — embassy

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Russia to retaliate immediately if Kiev gets ATACMS missiles — diplomat

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Kremlin vows to resolve situation with Turkish Airlines refusing service to Russians

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Ukraine could send special forces to capture Zaporozhye NPP — politician

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No response from West to killing of Izvestia war reporter Eremin — diplomat

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US State Department confirms secret shipments of long-range ATACMS missiles to Kiev

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US draft on nukes in space seeks to go beyond legal framework Russia adheres to — MFA

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