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Russia considers keeping its own half of the ISS alive after 2024

Glorious Soviet modules to outlive degenerate capitalist space-slum, comrade

Russia has decided that if Europe ends its involvement in the International Space Station (ISS), it will undock and keep its half alive.

A meeting of the Roscosmos science and technical council has recommended that the Russian space agency continue to support the ISS until 2024.

After that, the Federal Space Agency statement says, the concept is to “create a Russian space base” by separating that country's ISS modules. These would be configured as a multipurpose lab module, a nodal module (for docking), and a power module.

The ongoing stresses between Russia, America and Europe over Crimea and the Ukraine had led to ongoing concern that future cooperation in space is at risk.

Russia is also consolidating its space programme into a government-owned enterprise, notes Spaceflight Now.

Western sanctions are blamed for delaying talks that started in early 2014 over maintaining Russia's involvement in the ISS.

Perhaps to put a thumb in America's eye, the Federal Space Agency also sets a target 2030 for manned moon missions following unmanned missions both to lunar orbit and to the surface.

Yuri Koptev, who's responsible for the manned spaceflight programme, says a meeting in March will be mandated to look at documents for future heavy-lift works for “high orbit, lunar exploration, and future space exploration”. ®

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