NEW DELHI, February 28. /TASS/. American billionaire and US presidential advisor Elon Musk’s call to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) is premature, as it still has a lot to offer science, according to Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. He expressed his views during the NXT Global Development Forum in New Delhi.
"I believe the station will continue to operate. Before we decommission something, we need to launch a replacement," Artemyev told Russian media. He emphasized that plans for a new Russian orbital station were still in progress: - design work is underway, and the construction of the new module is ongoing. "It is impossible to discard the old station before a suitable alternative is up and running," he asserted.
"Crewed space flights are inherently risky. If we find ourselves unable to launch a new station, it could have catastrophic consequences not only for Russian space exploration but for the entire world. We’ve seen how difficult it is to revisit the Moon after the Americans accomplished this mission once a while ago; a similar situation could arise with orbital stations," Artemyev cautioned.
He speculated that Musk's suggestion to abandon the ISS was made "in haste, without sufficient consideration."
"It’s clear that the station is expensive and not always immediately profitable. Any scientific project takes time to yield returns; it is a long-term investment. Therefore, it should not be discarded under any circumstances," he stated.
Earlier, Musk posted on the social media platform X that the ISS had fulfilled its purpose and that its current benefits were minimal. He proposed that instead of continuing to maintain the station, efforts should be intensified toward a Martian expedition.
The ISS has been in orbit since November 20, 1998. It has a mass of approximately 435 tons and can reach up to 470 tons when docked with spacecraft. The project participants include Russia, Canada, the U.S., Japan, and ten member states of the European Space Agency: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.