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NASA sees possibility of using International Space Station until at least 2028

Roscosmos said its council of chief designers examined the current state of the Russian segment of the International Space Station and found it unsafe for use after 2024

International Space Station NASA

International Space Station

WASHINGTON, August 1. /TASS/. NASA believes that from the standpoint of engineering, it can maintain the work of the International Space Station (ISS) at least until 2028, and possibly even longer, NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz has told TASS.

In a statement on Saturday, Roscosmos said its council of chief designers had considered the current state of the Russian segment of the International Space Station and concluded that due to aging of the largest part of the station’s equipment "further exploitation of the Russian segment of the ISS after 2024 creates additional risks." "To prevent termination of continuous exploration of outer space infrastructure it has been suggested to establish a national manned space complex on the low-earth orbit - the Russian orbital service station," Roscosmos added.

Commenting on the report, Schierholz said: "From an engineering standpoint, we expect we can support station operations beyond that time [2024] through at least 2028 and very likely longer."

"We continue to update our technical analysis of space station life," she added. "Our goal is to have an uninterrupted presence in low-Earth orbit, to be able to transition from the station to other platform(s) where we can continue working in low-Earth orbit."

Russia’s new orbital station

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov announced in April that the condition of the International Space Station (ISS) left much to be desired and Russia might focus on creating its own orbital outpost. Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said on April 20 that Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation had been assigned the task of making the first basic module for a new Russian orbital station ready in 2025. Work on it is already underway, he said. Rogozin also posted a video of the first module under construction: this will be a research and power unit that was previously intended for launch to the International Space Station in 2024.

Russia’s future space station will have an inclination of 97-98 degrees. It will fly over the entire planet every two days and will be above the Arctic every one and a half hours, which is important for providing support to the Northern Sea Route. Russia will launch the new space station’s conceptual design before the end of summer.

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