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Russia Plans To Stop Space Collaboration With The West On The ISS, Wants To Build Its Own Station

Space Shuttle Endeavour Makes Last Trip To ISS Under Command Of Astronaut Mark Kelly

(Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

Charlie Kabelac Contributor
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Newly appointed Russian Roscosmos space chief Yuri Borisov announced Russia’s withdrawal from the International Space Station (ISS) project by 2024 and outlined plans for a Russian space station July 26.

Borisov ensured that Roscosmos, the state space agency, will uphold its current commitments but will discontinue collaboration after 2024, U.S. News reported. The announcement comes shortly after NASA and Roscosmos signed a deal for astronauts to fly each other’s vessels.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - MAY 31: In this screen grab from NASA's feed, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley (R) and Bob Behnken (2R) join NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (C) and Russian cosmonauts, Anatoly Ivanishin (L) and Ivan Vagner (2L) aboard the International Space Station after successfully docking SpaceX's Dragon capsule May 31, 2020. The docking occurred just 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, the nation’s first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION – MAY 31: In this screen grab from NASA’s feed, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley (R) and Bob Behnken (2R) join NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (C) and Russian cosmonauts, Anatoly Ivanishin (L) and Ivan Vagner (2L) aboard the International Space Station after successfully docking SpaceX’s Dragon capsule May 31, 2020. The docking occurred just 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, the nation’s first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

The agreement from July 15 stated plans for integrated flights in the fall of 2022. U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio will join two Russian astronauts for a rocket launch in Kazakhstan in Sept., while Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina will travel to space with two Americans and a Japanese astronaut on a flight launched from the Kennedy space center, The Guardian reported. (RELATED: WHITTINGTON: A Replacement For NASA’s International Space Station Is On The Way)

Russia wants to build its own station after it leaves the ISS. “I think we will have started work on the Russian space station by that time [2024],” Borisov said, according to USA Today.

Former NASA astronaut and space station commander Scott Kelly tweeted earlier in 2022 that any independent Russian space mission “won’t be worth a damn” without international collaboration, The Guardian reported. (RELATED: BARR: Beware Of Dependency On Russian Space Technology)

Russia’s withdrawal will end almost three decades of space collaboration that started after the end of the Cold War, according to U.S. News.