NEW YORK, July 31. /TASS/. Joint work by Russia and the United States on the International Space Station (ISS) program will continue until at least 2030, with the parties cooperating on the issue of deorbiting the station, Roscosmos Executive Director of Manned Space Programs, special presidential envoy for international space cooperation Sergey Krikalyov said.
"Even if we stop normal operations, it will mean it's time to start deorbiting. And working together, we found a deorbit profile, which will take about two years. So we'll have to work together at least until we deorbit it, which won't be until 2030," he told a press conference prior to the launch of the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft carrying the Crew-11 mission crew.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov said earlier that the Russian state corporation and NASA had reached a consensus that the ISS should operate until at least 2028, though it will likely remain in demand until 2030.
The ISS has been in orbit since November 20, 1998. The station weighs approximately 435 tons, and with docked spacecraft, it can reach 470 tons. Participants in this project include Russia, Canada, the United States, Japan, and the European Space Agency (ESA), which comprises Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Sweden, and Switzerland.