Roscosmos also considered bringing down the Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the ISS earlier than expectation and replace it with another Soyuz, according to a Russian newspaper. This could be a sign of behind-the-scenes technical worries.
For nine years after the last shuttle flightNASA depends on Russia to send astronauts to the ISS—Soyuz offers the only trip into space. But in 2020, NASA started using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Early, Boeing airplanes will also begin offering rides. McClintock said NASA is still dependent on Russia for some cargo deliveries and some astronaut flights, but that could soon change. “I think it is likely—and would be prudent—for NASA to conduct a similar analysis to see if they can sustain resupply and deliver astronauts to the station without depending on Russian or not”.
NASA could have gone in that direction; on March 2 agency extension of the contract of carriage of goods with SpaceX, Northrop Grumman and Sierra Space. This development will add to Russia’s economic hardship by reducing the country’s already limited space revenue. Roscosmos has no commercial space program to support or rely on.
For manned launches, Russia has long depended on the Baikonur cosmodrome in neighboring Kazakhstan. But the nation has expensive annual feeand in March Kazakhstan seize Russian spaceport assets, allegedly due to a debt owed to Roscosmos. Russia has sought to reduce its dependence on Baikonur by building a new spaceport. Vostochny . Cosmodrome in eastern Russia near the Chinese border, but the project has been bogged down by construction problems, delays and corruption scandals.
In addition to launch problems and coolant leaks, Russia’s civilian space program faces another problem: the ISS. For the past quarter century, the station has provided a vital link between the US and Russian space programs, but that is dwindling, along with plans to completely remove the giant structure. . NASA is investing in the next generation commercial space stationwith modules scheduled to reach orbit as early as 2030. Russia has no role in those commercial concepts, nor does China. new Tiangong station.
Last July, Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, stated that Russia will withdraw from the ISS—effectively ending the station’s lifecycle—in 2028, when Russia launches its own space station. And this February, the state news agency TASS affirm Russia plans to support the ISS until 2028, the time depends on the deployment of the “New Russian Orbital Station”.
Pavel Luzin, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank focused on China, Russia and Eurasia, is skeptical; he doesn’t know about new models of space stations, crewed spacecraft, or active launch vehicles. He added that it would be optimistic if Russia opened a new station in the 2030s. “Russia is not the Soviet Union,” said Luzin, who is also a visiting scholar at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. , speak. “Russia will be able to build several large vehicles and Soyuz spacecraft. Russia will be able to launch several satellites. But it will not be an advanced space power. It will not take steps beyond low Earth orbit.”
