The current agreement on the operation of the ISS is calculated until 2020. However, NASA believes that the space station will be useful for a longer period, in connection with which the United States wants to extend its cooperation with Russia on the ISS.
Sean Fuller, director of NASA's manned space flight programs in Russia, said the United States expects to extend the use of the International Space Station (ISS) beyond 2020.
We have created a wonderful laboratory in orbit and we hope that the use of its capabilities will be available after 2020 in order to get better results and move further in space exploration and development of new technologies. Negotiations on the use of the ISS after 2020 will continue.
Sean Fuller, Director of NASA Manned Space Flight Programs in Russia
Fuller also stressed that Russian and American research groups in biomedical research "have been successfully working together for many years and will work on joint projects in the future."
The current agreement on the operation of the ISS is calculated until 2020. However, NASA believes that the space station will be useful for a longer period
In March next year, the annual expedition to the ISS of astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will start. A number of joint studies are planned, and the exchange of experimental results is also possible in order to understand the effect of space on the human body during long-term expeditions. We expect that the use of the unique space laboratory will be available to all partners after 2020.
Sean Fuller, Director of NASA Manned Space Flight Programs in Russia
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin previously reported that Russia does not intend to extend the operation of the ISS after 2020, since "it plans to direct resources to other promising space projects."
Astronaut working on the ISS
© ESA / NASA
Meanwhile, the interlocutor of Izvestia, surrounded by the Deputy Prime Minister, noted that the fate of the ISS has not been fully resolved.
–Continuation of plant operation for the period before and after 2020 – this is a matter of negotiations between the Russian Federation and the United States, – noted the source.
The scientific director of the Institute of Space Policy Ivan Moiseev believes that not only the United States, but also Russia is interested in extending the life of the ISS.
Firstly, neither we nor the Americans have yet a well-developed strategic plan - what to do in space after the ISS. Secondly, if we flood the ISS in 2020, then China remains the only country regularly engaged in manned space exploration. I believe that the ISS partners will come to an agreement. Space has traditionally been above political strife. Let us recall the same Soyuz-Apollo - the most complex joint project was implemented at the height of the Cold War.
Ivan Moiseev, Scientific Director of the Institute of Space Policy
And according to Andrei Ionin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, Russia should not extend the ISS project.
The main point of the ISS for Russia was to support our rocket and space industry in the 1990s. In this sense, the ISS mission has been fully implemented, and we should think about new projects. The US doesn't really have much interest in the ISS either, it just can't say what will happen next. If Obama tomorrow says that America is leaving the ISS, then he will be asked: what in return? While he has nothing to answer. The further space agenda for the Americans is now being shaped by Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX. As soon as he clearly says when and what is planned to be carried out, including a flight to Mars, then the US administration will call its deadline for the ISS. It makes no sense for us to adjust to this schedule, so I think we need to leave the ISS project.