MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. The first crew of the prospective Russian Orbital Station (ROS) will be the cosmonauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) at the time the decision is made to undock the modules, Acting Head of the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC), Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko told TASS in an interview.

"The ISS will most likely remain in operation until 2030, and its deorbiting will begin in 2030. The first ROS modules, according to the current plan, will be docked to the Russian segment of the ISS. The initial assembly of the ROS modules will then be performed, and then this bundle will be undocked closer to the end of the ISS’s operational life. Thus we will maintain continuity and Russia will not have any interruptions in human spaceflight. And the crew working on the ISS when the decision is made to undock the ROS modules will be the first crew on it," Kononenko noted.

Earlier, CEO of the Roscosmos State Space Corporation Dmitry Bakanov announced that the launch of the first ROS module from Baikonur Spaceport into a 51.6-degree orbit is scheduled for 2028.